The Project
by Gottahavemyncis
Summary: Second in the series and sequel to "The Thought". Tim McGee travels to London to begin his new life. In DC, Gibbs and the others struggle to understand and deal with Tim's departure and the fallout from their actions of the past 10 years. Not for DiNozzo or Abby fans.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

London:

Tim walked away from the customs officer, through the building to the throng of people waiting for his fellow passengers off the flight from DC. He'd never flown into Heathrow before and was amused at the excitement and awe he felt looking at the crowds of people and knowing he was in the United Kingdom, Great Britain, England! Almost the first thing he could see clearly was a sign with his name on it. Looking from the sign up into the face of the man holding it, he nodded to him. The young man was a couple of inches taller than his own 6' 1", his lanky frame and curly hair reminding him of his baby brother Rob.

"I'm Timothy McGee."

"Oh, good, that was quick. You must have sailed through Customs."

Tim just smiled, "Everything is in order, wasn't difficult."

"Good, oh, sorry, I'm James Powell, we'll be working together."

"Ok, but we need to show each other our credentials or I could be Joe Schmoe deciding to pose as Timothy McGee and catch a free ride into town."

"Oh, of course." The other man put the sign under his arm while he dug out his NCIS id. Tim watched him carefully and then did the same. Having established each was who he said he was, Tim relaxed his shoulders.

"So you drew the short straw to meet me today? Sorry you had to give up your free time."

"Oh no, I volunteered when I figured out who was joining us." Tim was nonplussed by that but decided to ignore it in favor of following Powell through the rest of the vast customs area.

Powell stopped, "We're going to take the train into London, easier that way."

Tim nodded. He liked trains a lot more than he liked planes, although the flight had been fairly smooth. He was looking forward to his first glimpses of the English countryside or whatever the views would be on the way into the city. Hopefully he could see something even at this late hour.

"Were you told where you were going to be staying?"

Tim nodded, "Yes, I have the name and address of the hotel I'm booked into."

"It's up to you, but I have a guest room at my flat. I'm new to London myself, I thought it might be fun if you stayed with me, we'll have the same work schedule and then we can see the sights during our off hours."

Tim, having been forewarned by Vance's assistant of a proposal to share quarters, had had time to think about it and now grinned at his new co-worker. "That does sound like more fun than a hotel, James, especially since I'm only going to be here for a few weeks."

James grinned, "Great!"

By now the two men had reached the waiting train and swung Tim's luggage up the steps, scrambling up after them. Before they pulled away from the airport, Tim called the hotel and cancelled his booking. He followed that with an e-mail to Ms. Cooke, letting her know the revised plan.

The train ride was just long enough to whet Tim's appetite to learn more about England and in particular London. From the station in London, the two men quickly made their way to James' flat. Tim took some time to unpack and hang up his clothes, took a quick shower and then the two men headed out to a nearby pub for a bite to eat. As they walked, Tim found he was in danger of spraining his neck as he tried to take everything in and then realized to his chagrin that he was acting like a typical tourist. After all, he was here to work, not play tourist. James nudged him with his elbow, "Isn't it great? I've lived in a small village- Castleton- all my life and now I'm here where there's everything!"

Tim smiled, "There's a lot to take in, that's for sure." He paused, "How long have you been here, James?"

"Two weeks tomorrow."

"Ah, so we're both brand new. And you're new to NCIS?" James nodded. After they'd eaten and watched a couple of games of darts, the two decided to walk around the neighborhood. Tim had more than a passing interest in architecture and was entranced with the Georgian style buildings, with the wide white steps and columns. It was one thing to read about the style, even to view photos online, and another to see it in real life. Tim enjoyed the walk but within a few minutes found he was tired enough to drop in his tracks. He realized this is what Vance had warned him about, jet lag. He said something to James and the other man grimaced, having forgotten about Tim's long flight. He quickly steered them back to the flat and Tim stumbled into his room, kicked his shoes off and face planted onto his new bed.

He slept a solid ten hours and woke with a start, not sure where he was. He spotted one of his suitcases and remembered he was in London. He followed his nose to the kitchen, finding a coffeemaker brewing coffee. James was nowhere in sight so Tim rummaged through the nearly bare cupboards until he found coffee mugs. Opening the small refrigerator, he spotted a small container of cream and poured a bit into his mug, then scooped in some sugar from the small bowl on the table. Now he was ready for his coffee, all he needed was a spoon. He opened the first drawer he saw, spotted silverware and grabbed a spoon. Pouring his coffee, he stirred it and took his first sip, sighing happily, it was just right. He drank it down and then poked around the kitchen. Going back to the tiny refrigerator, the size of the one in his sister's college dorm room, he found bacon, eggs, bread and butter. He'd spotted a small skillet and plates during his search for a coffee mug, now he pulled them out, lit a burner on the stove and soon had several slices of bacon cooking. When that was close to done, he added the eggs and scrambled them.

While breakfast was cooking, he pulled the toaster from the corner of the counter and popped in two slices of bread. Just as everything was ready, the toast popped up and James wandered into the kitchen and smiled when he realized his temporary flatmate had cooked enough breakfast for both of them. He put butter and marmalade on the table, made some tea and then sat across from Tim.

When they'd finished eating and were enjoying their coffee and tea, James asked, "What do you want to see today, Tim? I figure we can probably go for four or five hours before your jet lag kicks in again. After a rest, we could go back out for dinner, I heard there's a great Chinese restaurant over in Covent Garden and maybe we can score some tickets to one of the plays."

Tim smiled, "That sounds like fun. How about the British Museum now? I'd love to visit that!"

James nodded, "I've never been there either, sounds good!"

The Brit grabbed his already tattered map of the Underground and the two men headed for the closest station. Figuring out the stops was easy and in less than an hour, they were at the famous museum, queued up to purchase tickets. Both men thoroughly enjoyed what they were able to see in the museum during the 5 hours Tim lasted. James spotted the fatigue when it settled on his flatmate once again - the lagging steps, the swallowed yawns. He turned and led the way to the exit, Tim following and not really noticing until they were outside. Back at the flat, he slept hard for a few hours and then woke up, ready to go again. It was evening by that time so they followed the plan they'd discussed that morning and headed to Covent Garden for dinner and possibly a show. They got as far as Oxford Street and walked down it to Piccadilly Circus, then cut across to Leicester Square and there was Covent Garden in front of them. Once they got there, they started looking at restaurants. Tim looked up information on his new phone and they decided to try Kopapa, touted as serving fusion meals and as a popular and eclectic place. Making their reservation online was easy and they had only a few minutes before they would be seated. They had already taken a look at what shows were available and had decided to try for tickets to "A Woman in Black", which sounded like fun. It was at the Fortune Theater and after they secured the tickets online, they mapped out their route from the restaurant to the theater. By the time they had all that settled it was time to enter the restaurant. The two men enjoyed the variety of small dishes they ordered and shared, both having decided to experiment with the menu. They relaxed as they ate, with plenty of time before they had to be at the theater.

Tim enjoyed the play, which kicked off with a funeral, setting the tone for the rest of the story. It was very subtly done and he found that as a writer, he was fascinated with the nuances of the play. The time flew by and he was still wide awake and fully engaged as the play drew to a close. Since he was still wide awake, they stopped in at a famous pub, The Harp, for a drink before returning to the flat. Determined to capture as much of his first days of his new life as possible, Tim took out his journal and noted his arrival and the events of the last two days. Tomorrow they had plans for a full day, no naps. They'd head to Buckingham Palace for a nearly mandatory viewing of the Changing of the Guard. While Tim was looking forward to it, he was nowhere near as excited as James which made sense; after all James was an Englishman, seeing many of his own country's treasures for the first time. Tim wanted to visit Westminster Abbey, to see the tombs of the poets and writers interred there, but the Abbey was open for worship only on Sundays. He made a note to find time on some other day. That freed up time to take in Big Ben, Hyde Park, the London Eye, the Tower of London, the Millennium Bridge, the new Globe Theater, and whatever else they could cram in. Sherlock Holmes' address at 221b Baker St. was on Tim's list and James admitted he had promised his father he'd take a photo there. They had decided to keep a running list on Tim's phone, that way, he could share it with James if the project was finished and he left for Greece before everything had been seen. He'd love to take a trip up to Scotland and visit Ducky's hometown but that took more time than he had available and he knew the project would have top priority. Once again he reminded himself he was in London to work, not to play.

The two men finally decided to take a bus tour of the sites and that at least gave them a peek at everything. The bus was a double decker and both men appreciated being in the fresh air, although the climb up and down the narrow spiral staircase was a bit tricky with their heights. They were surprised to find that the Buckingham Palace stop was actually behind the Palace. The tour guide explained that the relief troop would emerge from a guard house just a block away and would march right past them, turning a sharp right into the street in front of them. Even Tim, not usually one for a whole lot of fuss and ceremony, had to admit to a certain thrill as the guard marched precisely past them. Back on the bus, they had top deck views of Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London and other famous buildings. One of Tim's favorite stops was the London Eye and they left the tour to ride the Eye. Tim had been a bit nervous about the height but he was busy looking out over the City of London and barely noticed how high in the sky they were. He purposely did not look down at the Thames or the railroad bridge or other bridges until he knew the ride was drawing to a close. They walked back across the Thames on one of the bridges they'd seen from above and hopped on the next tour bus to complete their tour. Tim had to admit he was surprised to find himself briefly wishing he could tell his former co-workers about his adventure. For better or worse he had worked with them for several years, although he had rarely shared any of his personal life with them. Not voluntarily anyway. He found it a touch ironic that this was one day he would have gladly shared, even if it meant DiNozzo belittling him even more than usual. Ah well, that was something he didn't even have to think about anymore.

It had been a very busy day and by early evening, Tim was admittedly flagging. They stopped in at the local pub for dinner before heading back to the flat. Tim had just enough energy to get up the stairs and take a quick shower before falling into bed. He sure hoped this was the last of the jet lag as it was only 8 PM!

Monday morning rolled around and Tim woke before the alarm, refreshed and excited to start work on the project. James made them a quick breakfast and they hopped on the Tube for a quick ride into the NCIS office. He was introduced to the SAIC and team and was given a thorough briefing on the work that had already been done on the project and what still needed to be done. Later he realized that Vance had told him what his position would be on the project team but with everything else said that day, he hadn't really taken it in. He was in fact the project manager. The SAIC had been handling it during the planning and early development stages but he was ecstatic to have Tim take it from his busy hands. By mid-afternoon, Tim was up to speed, had had quick meetings with his staff and let them all get to work. He himself was hands-on, trying to keep a grin off his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Note: Wow, with a few exceptions you are liking this! I'm so happy to see that you haven't jumped ship since so far this appears to be so different from my other stories! As always, I write for myself and I'm always surprised and pleased when other people find something to like in my scribbles no matter how far out of canon I roam!

For the guest who was so unhappy: a) Don't like, don't read (please!) and b) to quote a fellow writer, "Clearly we don't watch the same show".

* * *

Chapter Two

Virginia, Washington D.C. and NCIS Headquarters:

Back in Virginia, Gibbs woke as usual before the alarm sounded that Monday morning. He'd spent the previous Friday and the weekend, in fact most of the hours between Tim McGee's visit and now, reviewing files, notes, meeting with Ducky and trying to figure out what had gone wrong and why. He was heartsick as he started to realize the truth of what Tim had said.

After a sleepless Thursday night, one of his first actions that Friday was to decide to bite the bullet and meet with the Director to see what he could find out. He'd gone into the office early only to find that neither the Director nor his Assistant was expected until 0900. Settling in at his desk, his eyes were immediately drawn to the empty desk across from him. It wasn't so much that the desk itself was empty. The computer equipment was there, the chair was there, even most of the stuff on the back of the cubicle walls was there. But it was empty. Tim had never kept anything personal on the top of his desk as DiNozzo would have taken it within minutes; Gibbs noted that thought as one clue to things gone wrong, but it was clear that he was gone. His workstation was as empty of him as Ziva's workspace, originally Kate's, was empty of both women. Hating the emptiness of the bullpen and the almost eerie silence of the squad room, Gibbs picked up his coffee cup and headed down to Autopsy to visit Ducky. He stepped off the elevator only to find a note on the locked double doors, that he and Jimmy would not be in until 0900. Gibbs didn't believe in coincidences; he felt there was no way that four people being away from the office and returning at the same time was not related. Was it something to do with Tim's departure from his team? Was he starting his new job, whatever it was, already? He knew he'd been reporting to Vance this week, was that what this was? Was it some sort of new position, not just for Tim, but for NCIS? Gibbs' anger started to build again. His initial response to McGee's short statement Thursday night had been anger for speaking to him as he had. Then he'd realized that it didn't matter, McGee could speak to him however he pleased, he was no longer his boss. That gave him a sour stomach and he'd spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what to do, how to fix it.

By dawn on Friday he'd gone over Tim's statement a thousand times in his head and was beginning to be reconciled to the loss of the man from his team. Ten years and he'd walked, that rankled. What had been the final straw? What had caused his faithful computer tech to take such a drastic step? With a start, Gibbs realized he didn't know the man very well. Sure he knew how he worked, and how much he protected his privacy, but hell, everyone who was around DiNozzo for any amount of time had to do that. He'd never read anything more in his personnel file than the page with his education. Mike Franks had trained him to ignore the facts and information in those files and get to know his staff through experience. Except he hadn't gotten to know the man, had never taken the time. He knew he was a Navy brat, McGee had spoken of that and knew he had a younger sister, they had met her during a case. More than that, Gibbs had no idea. He was happy with the work he got out of him and that was enough for him. He cringed at that thought, it sounded like he was talking about one of his wood working tools. It did what it was supposed to do, nothing more need be said.

He sighed looking at his watch. Abby would be in by now and he'd need to tell her. Unless there was also a note on the lab door that she wouldn't be in until 0900. Having had that thought, he suddenly knew that would not be so, whatever was causing the late arrival of the Director, Ms. Cooke, Ducky and Palmer would not involve Abby. McGee and Abby had not been friends or even friendly for quite some time. He'd never consciously thought about it until today, but now he knew it was true. He wondered what her reaction would be.

As he finally escaped the lab and her emotional rant several long minutes later, he wished that he'd delegated the task to DiNozzo or just let her own supervisor, Vance, tell her. Although he'd heard rumors of Abby's anger, he'd never witnessed a full blown episode and that was an eye opener. He guessed he shouldn't have been surprised at the angry and derogatory language spewing from her but he was dismayed and made a mental note to stay away from her. He had his own demons to deal with and just this once didn't want to take on the burden of hers as well.

When he returned to the bullpen, he noted that the squad room was still very quiet. DiNozzo was in and he looked up when Gibbs came from the back elevator. "Oh hey Boss, glad to see you. Where is everyone this morning? Did everyone but us get the day off or something? I've walked around and it seems like there's one person per team here and skeleton staffs in Legal, HR and even MTAC. It's weird."

"Don't know, DiNozzo. Abby's in the lab."

"Ok."

"Got something to tell you. Thought I'd get a conference room but since no one is here, we have all the privacy we need."

"Uh, Boss…?"

Gibbs sighed, "McGee came over last night Tony, to let me know… several things, but bottom line is that he's left the team."

"He…what?"

"He's gone, DiNozzo, moved on."

"He left the agency?"

"Don't know, I don't think so though."

"So he's left the top team in the agency, what a wuss!" Gibbs didn't even have to think about that, he whacked the back of DiNozzo's head hard enough for the younger man to jerk forward. "OW, Boss, come on, he walked and you're taking it out on me? This means we're off rotation until you hire another agent, he knew that would happen. "

"Ten years as his co-worker, his partner and that's what you have to say? You and I are at least part of why he left and now I'm beginning to understand."

"He was never my partner, Ziva was my partner. McGeek was rarely in the field, how could he be my partner?"

Gibbs took that in but couldn't yet digest it. He stood in thought, glaring at DiNozzo.

"You heard me. I'm going to find out what and why, DiNozzo and I don't think it's going to be a fun time for either of us."

"Well then you need to start with Abby, Boss, she's been mean to him for years."

"Yeah, I got a taste of that this morning when I told her. Why didn't you tell me, why didn't he tell me?"

DiNozzo stared at him, dumbfounded, was the Boss really that dense? He shook his head, "You'll have to get that from someone else, my ears are still ringing from that last whack to my head."

"DiNozzo!"

His Senior Field Agent, his only field agent – his only agent – shook his head, wincing.

"DiNozzo, I won't hit you, give you my word." DiNozzo stared at him for another minute before backing away from him. "No one ever told you about Abby because she's your favorite, she can do no wrong. It would have been suicidal for anyone to tell you, including Ducky. Not only suicidal, but you would not have believed anyone saying your princess was less than perfect."

Gibbs clenched his fists and then stalked by DiNozzo, who by this time had backed all the way to the window. When the elevator doors opened, Gibbs walked in and left without another word. DiNozzo sighed in relief and then sat down, realizing he was the only one left. The team was broken, although Ziva's departure had really done that. He started thinking about McGeek. He'd thought they were friends, sure he teased and pranked him, but it was all in good fun, even when the Probie still pretended to hate it and told him that he was crossing the line right in front of Gibbs, who never told him to stop, never did more than slap him, like that did anything. He picked up his phone and dialed McGoo's cell, only to hear a generic message, certainly not the one that was normally on his phone. He called his desk phone and listened to the same generic message. He opened his e-mail and sent a message, only to have it returned in a few minutes as undeliverable. His next thought was to see what Ducky or even better, Jimmy, might know. He wandered downstairs to Autopsy stopping when he found the sign on the door. Making a face, he then took himself to the lab, only to view Abby in full tantrum, the volume of her music at an all time high. He never stepped inside the door; an Abby tantrum was more than he ever wanted to deal with; he didn't know how McWuss had put up with them all these years and the music hurt his ears so much he retreated to the elevator and went back to the bullpen. After sitting for another couple of minutes, he got bored again and took another stroll around the building. The situation was the same, each field team had one member there; each department had one or two people there. He finally went back to Carter's bullpen and asked the guy who was there where the rest of his team was. The man had transferred in several months ago and was eternally grateful he hadn't landed on Gibbs' team. In fact, he'd heard at one time probies and juniors were threatened with transfers to Gibbs' team if they misbehaved. Vance had put a stop to that. When DiNozzo approached him asking where his team was, he replied as he'd been told to do: they were out of the office and would be in by 0900. Then he returned to the report writing he'd been doing before the old guy had interrupted him.

DiNozzo wondered what was so special about 0900 and then realized that had been the time on the note on the door to Autopsy. He went back to his desk and slumped in his chair, thinking. Gibbs came back in with coffee for both of them.

As Gibbs approached his desk after giving his only team member his coffee, he noticed a white piece of paper under his phone; that had not been there the night before. The note was from Vance and told him to read the file he'd placed in the bottom drawer of his desk. Remembering that the Director had a key to that drawer as it contained sensitive materials Gibbs unlocked it and saw that it was McGee's personnel file. A note from Vance told him that he should read it cover to cover before they spoke. Wanting privacy away from the nosiest man on the planet Gibbs told DiNozzo he would be in conference room A and did not want to be disturbed by anyone, including him. He stacked several cold case files on the man's desk as he walked away. DiNozzo was left alone again and he started thinking about the possibilities. Would the dissolution of the team continue? Would he be reassigned? Maybe he'd be offered his own team again, this time he thought he'd better take it. He really was getting tired of those head slaps; he thought Gibbs would have gotten past them by now. Would Gibbs retire? He mulled over the possibilities as he stared sightlessly at the cold case file open in front of him.

XXX

A Restaurant in DC:

As friends and colleagues bade Tim McGee an affectionate goodbye that Friday morning, their boss looked discreetly at his watch. The Director wasn't concerned about the time, when the surprise farewell breakfast party was proposed to him by Drs. Mallard and Palmer he had cleared it with the SecNav. He was figuring that by now Gibbs had found the office empty, had probably told both Ms. Sciuto and Agent DiNozzo the news and would have discovered his note and the file he'd left with an order for him to read it before he spoke a word to him. He knew how he'd felt when he'd first read McGee's file. No one could read that and not be affected. How had his agent, at the tender age of 9, not only survived the deaths of his parent and younger brother and then abandonment by his guardian, raised two toddlers to adulthood and done so well in his education and theirs while living on the streets for nearly a decade? Observing Gibbs' attitude toward McGee and the resulting disrespect from DiNozzo, Sciuto and David, it was clear to Vance that the Team Leader didn't know a damn thing about his junior agent. He obviously had never read the man's file, a circumstance Vance couldn't fathom. Thinking of Tim's life gave the director some ideas for handling things with Gibbs and the bully still left on his team.

Leon admitted he would miss having McGee in the office; he'd often called on him for help on a project. However, overall he felt relief that one of the best agents he'd ever met had cut the ties that bound him – hell, they were more like chains – and could now move ahead in his career. Vance felt sick to his stomach whenever he thought about how he himself had bungled things; he should have never have put the man back on Gibbs' team after the mole hunt. Yes, McGee had been unhappy with being torn from his team and relegated to Cybercrimes and had been even unhappier about the seeming demotion for no reason from the top team on the Eastern Seaboard to a geek in the basement. However, he'd channeled his anger into doing exactly what the new Director demanded of him and giving him the results Vance needed. Surely as Director he could have found a better spot for him on another team, even in another office as he was doing now, all these years later. The fact remained that with his Team Leader constantly leaving him behind in the office his agent had had minimal experience in the field and had had to fill in the blanks himself, by working on his own time with friends in law enforcement to develop the skills needed. However, he was still lacking experience and that's what he would be gaining during his first few weeks at his new post.

He glanced up now as Pamela caught his eye and he realized it was his turn to speak. Smiling, he nodded at her and rose from his chair, reaching down to the table and tapping his glass with his spoon. Others joined him and soon there was quiet as he began his own farewell to the former member of Gibbs' soon to be defunct team. His intention was to re-assign DiNozzo and Gibbs would have a choice of taking on a new team, selected by the Director, or give up his position as Team Leader. No matter how stellar their results, Vance knew they'd all escaped a potential catastrophe with the way the man ran his team.


	3. Chapter 3

Note: A little piece of personal trivia. Tim's new friend and flat mate James Powell is named for a friend. Jim Powell, an Englishman from Castleton, met my parents on a European tour. He and his wife became lifelong friends of my parents, exchanging several visits between Castleton and California. I had the pleasure of meeting them and seeing the Powells several times and I even stayed with them in Castleon, met their granddaughter, was invited to London to meet their grown daughter, etc. Jim's last visit to us was a few years before my dad's death and I took a day off work to drive the two friends, widowers by that time and neither able to get around very well, out for lunch on the coast. They're both gone now and I just wanted to let you know that Tim's friend James is based on my friend Jim and that he was as wonderful in person as he is in the story.

* * *

Chapter Three

Monday, London:

At 1800, Tim started to fade a bit and he stepped out for another cup of coffee. The SAIC noticed and stopped him, "How many cups do you usually drink a day, Agent McGee?"

"It's Tim, sir, and usually about 4 or 5."

"And how many have you had today?"

"I've lost count, Agent Morris, but I think it's somewhere around 8."

The man smiled at him in sympathy. "It's Joel and you're still fighting some jet lag, Tim. It usually takes me a solid week to catch up. You're not quite there yet. Finish up for the night, take James and head out. You've made excellent progress today; I didn't anticipate you would get much farther than the orientation."

Tim's eyes nearly fell out of his head; he hadn't been expected to work? The SAIC smiled, "You will work longer hours eventually, my friend, but I don't believe in killing my staff, I'd rather you have a healthy and long life, there is more to the world than NCIS!"

Tim felt like pinching himself or slapping his own head to see if he was awake or just hallucinating. He must have been obvious as Joel laughed a little. "I've met your former boss, you know, and have certainly heard the stories. We don't all believe in the sweatshop version of law enforcement."

Tim just nodded at him.

"Tell me, did you really have to sleep on the floor at your desk?"

Tim just nodded again. The man shook his head, "Not on my watch!"

By that time one of his own new staff, Will, had come looking for him and Tim went back to their work space with him. He told his team to finish up for the night and they quickly wrapped up and left for the night. Tim and James stopped for take-out after they left their Tube stop, Tim laughing and telling his flat mate that some things were the same as DC. The menu items were slightly different, but Tim recognized his favorite Chinese dishes from the descriptions. James had already shown him the menus he had accumulated in the last two weeks: Indian, Thai, Chinese, pizza. No wonder Vance said Americans did fine in the UK!

After another solid night's sleep, Tim was up and cooking breakfast the next morning by the time his flat mate wandered into the kitchen. James thought it was funny that Tim woke earlier than he did, considering the time difference between his old and new home. Tim retorted that it was excitement and a deadline. He only had four weeks to get the project completed successfully and also wanted to see as much as possible.

Off to work they went. Tim loved taking the Tube straight to work, there were only a few blocks to walk at either end. No traffic to maneuver, no accidents to make him late and earn him the wrath of Gibbs, no car troubles of his own. That second day he was still hard at work when he realized the time and called a halt for the evening. This time it was 21:00 so Tim figured he was done with the jet lag. They stopped at the pub to eat that night and since there weren't as many people there as their previous visit (James said there was a very popular TV show on Tuesday nights), they played a couple of games of darts. James was quite good at it although Tim did fairly well for a newbie at the game.

The rest of the week followed the same pattern and by late Friday morning, they had set up the first round of preliminary tests. When those proved successful, they were officially 4 days ahead of schedule. Before they started their evening of dinner and clubbing with some of their work mates, they went back to the flat and Tim called Ducky. He had contacted the older man to let him know he'd arrived safely the previous Friday and he'd sent him a couple of quick e-mails during the week, but he hadn't had a chance to speak with him since his arrival call.

When Ducky answered the phone, Tim was nearly overwhelmed by his emotional response to hearing his voice. Judging from the older man's gravelly voice, he was having much the same reaction.

"Timothy, tell me about your project, how is it going?"

"Vance told me this but I guess it got lost in my brain, Ducky, I'm the project manager! It's not as formal as being a Team Leader but I am in charge of the project and the team. It's going really well so far, I've got the best people to work with and that really helps. Not to use a cliché or anything, but we're all on the same page and everyone wants to be there."

"You've had some experience with that, lad, from your months in Cybercrimes here."

"Yeah and I did the work, we gave Vance what he needed but I sure didn't want to be there, I was miserable in that basement."

"I've always wondered why that group is in a dark basement. Their work is of growing importance to the agency; wouldn't it prove beneficial to move them into the light, so to speak?"

Tim nodded, "Yes I believe it would, Ducky and I recommended that to the Director, but finding the space for all the equipment and people is tough to do."

"Well, we will not change that in one phone conversation, will we? Now tell me again what you've experienced so far and what your plans are for the weekend? And how do you like the flat?"

"Sharing the flat was a great idea; it makes me feel at home and gave me an immediate feeling of real life here. James is new to London and to NCIS, so I've been able to give him some tips about working at the agency and he and I are seeing London together. Have to say this is the easiest commute I've ever had, walk a few blocks to the Tube station, ride into the City, walk a few more blocks and we're there. I love not having to drive, I think it really helps keep the stress levels down."

"Wonderful dear boy, and what have you seen so far?"

Tim told him of their adventures over the weekend, including the pub dinners and the dart games.

Ducky chuckled at the last, "You're really getting a taste of life in Britain with those dart games, Timothy, I'm happy to hear that. Now, when you go to Westminster Abbey tomorrow, be sure to look for…" and the older man gave him some tips and ideas for their planned visit to the Abbey, ending with "there is a souvenir store across the street from the Abbey, I believe it is the only one in the vicinity. If you visit it, would you be so kind as to buy me a pair of British flag socks? "

"Socks, Ducky?"

"Yes, I know it sounds silly, but our Bridge League has a White Elephant Exchange and I would love to give a pair of those socks!"

Tim laughed, "Do you think Jimmy would like a pair, you know, for real?"

"I suspect he would."

"Ok, we'll stop by there and see what kitschy things we can find for you!"

"Thank you dear boy, I shall reimburse you. "

"No need, Ducky, don't worry about it!"

"Now lad…"

"Nah, Ducky, when I get to Greece and suddenly find myself homesick for something weird from the States, you can send it over and we'll call it even!"

The older man chuckled, "Very well then, thank you." He paused, "Timothy…"

"I don't know if I want an update about Gibbs, Ducky, if that's what you were going to ask me."

"It was."

"I don't think so, not yet. Unless…Gibbs & DiNozzo are ok, right? They haven't been shot or hurt?"

"Oh no, their health is fine, lad."

"Ok, good. I'm taking your advice, Ducky – and the Director's – I'm focusing on my life here and not thinking about them. And I'm not quite ready to hear about them, if that's all right with you. I need a little more space, more time before I can think any more about them."

"That's fine, dear boy. There is just the one thing, however. Jethro has asked me for your address, he wants to write you a letter. Vance has not told anyone where you are to be posted. "

"Oh! Huh, I don't remember saying I wanted my posting to be secret."

"I believe the Director wants to give you a chance to settle in without any outside influences."

"Ok, guess that makes sense. But geez, not like Gibbs is going to fly to Greece or anything! "

"No, but phone calls and e-mails can be distracting."

"Hmm, you're right about that. I guess I wouldn't mind hearing from Gibbs but I sure don't want any more crap from the others." Tim paused, thinking. "Ducky, I know my e-mail address has changed and Gibbs isn't an e-mail kind of guy anyway. If he wants to write me, why doesn't he just send it through interoffice mail? Is that allowed, I've never thought about it before. Huh, he'd probably still need to know the office. Maybe he could give it to Ms. Cooke to send? Why does he want to write me anyway?"

"He wants to try to work things out with you, Timothy. I believe for now he just wants to wish you good luck."

Tim was silent for a bit as he dealt with the huge lump of emotion that had formed in his throat. Hearing those few words meant the world to him.

"Ducky…you think…really?"

"Yes, dear boy. And I've told him that until you tell me to cease and desist, any letters to you have to be vetted by me before they're sent."

"Ducky, that's, wow, you've done so much for me and now this. If I were there, I'd give you a hug. "

"Now Timothy, no need to get all mushy! You're in England now, man, mind that stiff upper lip!" The two men laughed at his quip, poking fun at the renowned English stoicism.

"Lad, it is wonderful to hear your laugh, it has been too long. Just this week of being away has done you a world of good!"

"It's everything, Ducky, leaving the team is something I should have done years ago, I just kept hoping things would get better. Being here, physically away, yeah, that's been a real help. Working on something new, getting to see so many places and things I've only dreamed about…all of it, the cobwebs are slowly being cleared out from my head, Ducky. "

"I am especially happy that you have made friends already, Timothy, and that you are socializing with them."

"If this was a long term project, as manager I wouldn't be able to do that, but since I'm temporary here, it isn't a problem. And yeah, it's great to feel friendly with people again. You know, after spending the last ten years pretty much living under the "Stockholm Syndrome" and drifting away from my college friends because of our crazy hours."

"Ah dear boy, yes, that has been difficult. Now, Jimmy has just come in, would you like to speak with him as well?"

"Yeah, that would be great Ducky, thanks!"

Tim smiled again when he heard his friend's voice, "Hi Tim! How's London?"

"It's great, Jimmy, I'm really enjoying it – the work and just being here! How are you doing?"

"I'm great too, Tim, got a little bit of news for you."

"Spill!"

"Ok, well, Breena and I have decided to adopt a child."

"Wow, that's great, man! Congratulations! Have you started the process?"

"No and oh I just realized you've been through it."

"Sort of, not the same thing since I'd raised Rob; had him in my custody since he was two. He was 11 by the time I was 18 and old enough to become his legal guardian. But yeah, there's a lot of paperwork and meetings with social workers. Just keep in mind they want the best possible homes for the kids under their care, so don't feel you're being judged. Well, you are, but for a good reason."

"Hmm, that's good to know, although I don't think either one of us has anything to worry about."

"I'm sure you don't and you'll make wonderful parents! "

"Thanks man!" There was a pause and then Jimmy continued, "Dr. Mallard wants to speak with you again and then we have to go, we have a new "guest" coming in shortly. "

"Uh oh, a murder?"

"Doesn't sound like it; a Navy officer died in Sick Bay on his ship, his family has requested an autopsy."

"Ok, great talking with you, tell Breena hi for me. "

"Will do and you take care Tim. Bye!"

Tim heard Ducky take the phone. "Timothy, I had a thought about Scotland. Instead of going now, would you consider waiting until I'm there for my annual vacation? Then you could fly straight in and we could have a proper visit."

""That sounds good, Ducky, because I only have two more weekends after this, I'm leaving for Greece after my fourth week. Unless we finish the project a lot earlier than that!"

"Yes, well, it does seem a shame but I would hate for you to miss anything in England and I know you have a long list, Jimmy and I are quite impressed with it!" Tim chuckled, he'd sent the list of things to see and do to Ducky and Jimmy earlier in the week.

"Ok, that's a plan then! I'll see you in Edinburgh in August."

"Yes, indeed and I shall endeavor to get us tickets to some of the Festival events."

"Oh yeah, that's in August, that would be great Ducky!" Tim looked at his watch. "Hate to cut this short, but I heard you have a body coming in, and I need to get ready for dinner and clubbing tonight. I'll drop you an e-mail, let you know how the weekend has gone and talk with you next week, ok?" "

Yes, my boy, do that. In the meantime, know you're loved and missed, lad."

"Same goes for you, Ducky." Tim smiled as they ended their call. He thought he'd smiled more this week than he had since his first week at MIT when he'd moved his little family out of the homeless camp and into a furnished apartment. He clearly remembered that week, cooking their first meal in a pan on a real stove and sleeping in beds with sheets, blankets and pillows, not sleeping bags on the ground. While he'd had a full ride scholarship to Johns Hopkins, it hadn't stretched far enough to include housing for all of them so they had remained at the camp where they had support and Geordie was still nearby to pitch in with the kids. By the time he'd been accepted at MIT he had grants on top of the scholarships and he'd been able to swing a studio apartment and the three of them lived there quite happily, even squeezing Geordie in on his visits.


	4. Chapter 4

Note: Thanks as always to my wonderful beta and friend, harmonfreak1; don't know what I'd do without her!

FYI, the photo of London from the Eye that accompanies this story is one I took in 2008. Enjoy it because the next chapter I'm going to swap this photo out for one of a thatched roof building…or a castle we visited or...we'll see.

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Chapter Four

Friday - London

He hurried as he changed his clothes and got ready for dinner and clubbing. There were six of them meeting for dinner and then they'd proceed to a club that had just opened. Tim thought they might have problems getting in, so he grabbed his alter ego's id, a birthday present from his kids one year. It had been meant as a joke but it had helped him out a couple of times when he needed to be Thom E. Gemcity, author rather than Timothy McGee, Federal Agent. He knew James had twigged to his pen name early on, that had been the reference he'd made at the airport, but he'd asked him to keep it quiet as he didn't want any distractions. He promised to show James what he meant by 'distractions' if he had any book signings or tours while he was posted in Europe. If he had to use the ID, he hoped he could do it quietly. He would not have bothered but he liked Emma, one of the women from the office, not on their project, and she had been the one so excited about the new club. Deciding not to take any chances, he found the number for the club and called, identifying himself as Gemcity and mentioning that he and some friends would like to stop in this evening. He spoke with the manager and was given a code to give to the 'gatekeeper' so they would be correctly and discreetly identified for entrance to the place. Tim grinned, with any luck he would not have to out himself as Gemcity but they would get into the club.

Once both men were ready, they left for the restaurant where they would meet the others. As the newcomer, Tim had asked that they find a place that served English food – great English food. The others had done a little research and found the restaurant where they were now meeting, Jodhpurs. They had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the meal, although Tim almost choked when he saw a dessert item on the menu called "Spotted Dick". He didn't want to eat any but he was curious to see what it looked like so their obliging server brought a sample to show him. Curiosity satisfied, Tim settled for a cup of coffee while the others enjoyed a sweet.

The club was close enough to walk from the restaurant and Tim managed to pair up with Emma. At 5'8", the pretty redhead was enthusiastic without being over the top about it and asked Tim endless questions about the U.S. He privately thought she was the perfect dancing partner for him, just the right height and like his former boss he had a thing for redheads. The others groaned as they reached the club and saw the long line waiting to be vetted for admission. Tim smiled and motioning them to follow him, walked up past the line of people to the 'gatekeeper'. Speaking softly to him, he gave him the code, showing him his Gemcity ID. The man showed instant respect and nodded in a friendly manner to each of the group as they headed inside. The rest of the group was in awe and tried to find out how Tim had managed to get them inside. He shook his head, "It's nothing, believe me, just a trick I learned a few years ago. Now come on, let's have some fun here!" He held out his hand to Emma who accepted it and accompanied him to the dance floor. He might be a geek, but he knew how to move on the dance floor and he had a wonderful time with Emma. At one point, James and one of the other women, Hannah, were dancing next to them and they managed to cross partners for awhile. Eventually they needed a break and found a table for the six of them. While they sat with their drinks, the manager came over and introduced himself to Tim as a major fan of his work. Tim smiled and shook his hand, then grabbed a napkin and signed a quick autograph. The man disappeared, happy with his trophy.

James turned to Tim, "Gonna tell them now?"

Emma was staring at him, "Did you just write an autograph for that guy? Are you really "Somebody" or just faking it?"

Tim smiled, "Ok, yeah, I write books in my spare time and some of them have done pretty well. Emma, I knew you really wanted to come to the club tonight, so I called ahead and gave my name. They gave me a code to give the guy outside and after he checked the ID for my penname, he let us in. Simple as that."

Emma was looking at him with big eyes. "Who are you? Tim McGee or….oh no, don't tell me, I think I might know! "She leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Are you Thom E. Gemcity, author of those sexy crime books?"

Glad she couldn't see his blush in the dark he leaned over to her and whispered into her ear. "Yes, that's me! How did you guess?"

She whispered back, "You don't look like the picture on the book jacket but I like anagrams, that one was easy!"

He laughed as he pulled her closer. "I know, it's so easy and obvious and yet I know of very few people who have gotten it."

The two of them nuzzled for awhile until Will couldn't stand it anymore. "C'mon Tim, who are you, really?"

"Yeah tell us!" This came from the other two women in the group, Antoinette (Toni) and Hannah.

"Ok, ok. I'm really…you sure you're ready for this?"

"YES!" from the three who didn't know.

"All right then. I am really…Timothy McGee."

"Wha…?" James and Emma started laughing while Tim sat back and enjoyed his white wine. "That's not fair! That guy said he was a fan of your work! Are you a DJ in your spare time or an artist?"

"Um, I suppose you could say an artist."

"A painter?"

"No, can't do more than stick people."

"Sculptor?"

"No, although I can sculpt wonderful things with bath bubbles."

"Singer?"

Tim laughed, "I could sing something for you and you'd know the answer to that in three notes!"

"Huh, what else is there?"

"Oh, I know, a comedian?"

"Not purposely."

"Actor?"

"Only when I'm undercover."

"Huh, the only thing left is writer."

"Really?"

"Yes, are you a writer?"

"You got it."

"A famous writer?" Hannah got quiet as she thought through all the possibilities. "I love to read but I can't place you…the only one I can think of is…no you don't look like his picture at all."

"Who's that?"

"Thom E Gemcity, but he's, uh, heavier than you."

"So what would happen if he lost weight and got in shape?"

"OH! That is you!"

"Yep, but I'd appreciate you not saying it so loudly, I don't want the distraction…" Tim sighed as a man from the next table over who had apparently overheard, approached him. "Mr. Gemcity, I love your books, could I have your autograph?"

Tim sighed; this is why he should have just let Emma figure out her own way into the club. He signed an autograph for the man who was immediately followed by three other people and soon enough there was a crowd. The manager saw what was happening and knew the famous author was not happy with him for giving him away. He sent the bouncers over to the Gemcity table so they could leave in peace, the evening ruined by thoughtless fans, including himself, who had invaded the author's privacy. James nodded, now he understood what Tim meant by "distractions" and he would be very careful to avoid any hints of Gemcity. Emma and the others also understood, having just had their dream evening in the new club ruined by their own curiosity and the thoughtless fans. Tim was trying not to mind but he hadn't expected British fans to be even more intrusive than the ones in the U.S. He was usually by himself or with Sarah or Rob when he was out as Gemcity; this was the first group gathering he'd been part of in a long time. He could see the others felt bad, but he could feel a headache coming on and catching James' eye, begged off the rest of the evening. "Sorry everyone, guess I'm still feeling some jet lag. I'm going to head home. Thanks for the fun, see you Monday!" He turned and walked toward the Tube stop, finding James catching up with him in a few steps.

"I'm sorry Tim!"

"Not your fault, James, you're the only one of everyone, including me, who kept your mouth shut! It's my own damn fault, I just…I guess I wanted to impress Emma and now I've ruined her whole evening."

"Don't think you did, Tim, she's got bragging rights to the club now."

"Huh?"

"She got into the club where none of us regular folks would be able to go and she likes you."

"Me or Gemcity?"

"Oh no, definitely you!"

"And did I just ruin that?"

"No, you weren't visibly angry and jet lag is understandable. Plus you have been working hard all week."

Tim snorted at that, this group had no idea what working hard meant to Tim. The phrase 'working hard' under the Gibbs' regime meant 80+ hours a week, sleeping at your desk and eating from the vending machine in the break room. This was fun…work, yes, he had to engage his brain but he loved that and leaving every night before midnight was a real treat.

When they got home, Tim checked the time in Maryland and then got on Skype to see if either his brother or sister was home. He got lucky and found them both so they talked for close to an hour before Tim's yawns overpowered him. Talking with his kids cheered him up and chased away any lingering displeasure over the whole Gemcity debacle.

Saturday found the two new Londoners at Westminster Abbey, a place in which Tim later admitted that he could have spent several days. He spent hours walking amongst the graves and memorials of Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Nelson, Chaucer, the Brownings, the Brontes, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, Sir Winston Churchill, Shakespeare, Coleridge, Benjamin Disraeli, Tennyson…the list went on and on. So many of his favorite writers, poets and names he'd only read about in history books. Walking by a group of tourists with a guide, Tim overhead the guide mention a U.S. War Memorial at St. Paul's and he resolved to visit. It was already on the list as he was very interested in the architecture of Sir Christopher Wren, now he would be certain to visit the American Memorial Chapel as well.

Sunday they took a train to Oxford and spent the day poking around there. Their interest was not just in the academic, during the week they'd found a mutual interest in the Harry Potter books and movies and they were eager to see the real life model of the staircase and dining room of Hogwarts. They had an early dinner there and were back in their flat well before midnight.

Tim's second week in London began much the same as the previous week. Up early, breakfast, tube into work, dive into the project, a break at lunchtime, eating out at any of the delis and restaurants within a 5 block perimeter, and ending the work day anywhere between 1800 and 1900. It seemed the 2100 dismissal the previous week had been considered a late night, something that Tim still found amusing. He was just as glad to leave "early" so that he could see more of London.

He had a status meeting with Joel Monday afternoon. As he stepped into the man's office, Joel was just hanging up the phone. "Come on in Tim. Can't wait to hear how things are going."

"They're going according to plan, we're on schedule, actually we've pulled ahead of the schedule by a couple of days, Joel, as all the bugs have been worked out, the various components are completed and we tested them one last time this morning, they'll be linked by this afternoon and we'll begin beta testing in about an hour. "

"Good job!"

"Thanks, I'll certainly pass that along. This team is great to work with, there's a lot of care and pride in their work and everyone's willing to pitch in when there's a problem. These are good people!"

"Thank you, yes, there are only a couple of new folks besides you; James is obviously one and Hannah is the other and both are fitting in quite well. The rest have worked together on projects before. "

"And it shows! I'm impressed with them."

Joel laughed, "The feeling is mutual, Tim, I've had several requests for you to stay." He paused, "Which brings me to the topic of the phone conversation I was ending as you came in." Tim, his Gibbs-trained Spidey senses alerted, sat straighter. "Relax, nothing's wrong. The SFA in your new office, Carla, has been restricted to desk duty. Pete called late last week with the news, yeah, that's something you'll get used to - we work together. Since we do talk, along with our counterparts in Marseilles and Rota, he remembered that we had an extra junior agent right now, young man named Julian Martin. He was scheduled to ship out to the Seattle office, well actually Bremerton, but Vance pulled those orders earlier in the week, so he was still here. Long story short, I sent Julian to Pete and when you finish here, he'll either travel on to his next posting or come back here. Now, what that means is that if we do run into a big enough case that we need an extra hand I may need to pull you from the project for a day or so. As you can imagine, the fact that you're now ahead of the project plan is a big plus from every angle!"

Tim nodded, "Happy to be of service, Joel, just let me know. To that end, I'll continue using Will as my 2nd in charge, in case anything does come up." The two men discussed the deliverables for the rest of the week and Tim left the SAIC's office feeling good and a little excited about the possibility of being called in for a case.

Tuesday night he, James, Emma and Toni went on a night tour of London and even though it meant time on a boat, Tim felt it was worth it. He'd simply taken some ginger root and used his sea bands and hadn't felt any seasickness during the cruise on the Thames. As he fell asleep that night, he thought of getting some sort of letter from Gibbs and responding to it with just one sentence, "Best decision I ever made."

The rest of the week went quickly, Tim and Emma had dinner together and the project work was still ahead of schedule. As far as Tim was concerned, that meant more in depth testing than had been originally planned. Vance agreed and they continued to move forward. By the end of that second week they were nearly a week ahead of schedule and were already doing some of the end user testing. It was on Friday that Tim noticed there seemed to be something bothering James. There was nothing wrong with his work and Tim thought it was personal rather than work related. He thought back over the previous days and couldn't think of any sign of trouble. It was possible the young man was homesick. Tim decided to leave it for now and talk to his friend after work.

In the meantime, he and Emma were having lunch together at her favorite Thai restaurant, close to the office. He met her at the elevator on the main floor of their office and they walked out the double doors, turning in the direction of the restaurant. Emma was uncharacteristically quiet as they walked and Tim started worrying. He hadn't thought of Emma as a long-term relationship possibility as he was leaving so quickly and they had talked about it, agreed they were just having a good time. But now Tim's long list of disastrous dates started looping through his mind.

He stopped her at the door to the restaurant. "Something on your mind, Emma? Can I help?"

She shook her head as they walked into the restaurant and were seated. "I need to tell you something. I didn't think it mattered but James insists it does."

"What?"

"I'm…I've really enjoyed our dates, Tim, you know that."

"Uh oh."

"I never should have gone out past that first night at the club. I could possibly have excused that, it was a group thing after all."

"Excused it to whom, Emma?"

"My fiancée."

Tim felt the blood drain from his face. "Your fiancée, the man you've agreed to spend the rest of your life with?"

"Yes…I'm sorry Tim, I never intended to carry things this far. It's just, you're so cute, sweet and interesting and I just wanted to have a little fun."

"That's fine, Emma, but you're forgetting your 'little fun' included lying to me, using me to cheat on your future husband. How do you think that makes me feel?"

"I'm sorry; I never meant to hurt you."

"Luckily neither of us expected much and we haven't slept together so other than those soul searing kisses the other night, you're clear." He got up from the table, "But I've lost my appetite. I'm sure you can find your way back to the office."

He turned and walked out of the restaurant. He walked around the area for a few minutes, finally deciding to just chalk it up to whatever it was in him that attracted the liars, criminals and nutcases and not dwell on it, bought a sandwich from a deli and headed back to work. He figured he was lucky this time, he'd had a good time with Emma, enjoyed her company, but wasn't head over heels in love with her and hadn't expected to have any contact with her once he left the country. It was the fiancée he felt sorry for; she had been cheating on her future husband while dating Tim, no matter the expectations. In his heart and mind, it was just wrong and he resented being an unknowing party to it. He finished his sandwich and got back to work and if anybody noticed anything was slightly off about him that afternoon, no one said a word. He realized later that the whole team had been unusually quiet; he figured they'd probably known about Emma's confession. Putting things together, he thought James had probably found out about Emma's duplicity after they got to work that day and was worried for him. He made sure to thank everyone for their work that day and let them go early for the weekend.

He didn't bring up the subject until they were home and in the flat. "She told me at the restaurant. I walked out."

"I heard. Glad you did, that was nasty of her."

"Yeah, she didn't seem to think much of it – or me. I really hate being used like that."

"It's happened before?"

"Not those exact circumstances no, but I do tend to attract the liars, criminals and the nutcases."

"Ow, Tim, that's harsh."

"Might be harsh, but it's true. Had a sweet young thing get friendly with me in a coffee house once and two days later she pointed a gun at me, ready to kill me if I didn't tell her where our current quarry – a professional killer from North Korea - was."

"Tim! You're here, so obviously she wasn't successful."

"No, as a matter of fact Kai, the North Korean woman, was stalking Amanda, or whatever her real name was, and when she saw her threaten me, she shot and killed her."

James stood in shock. "You saw her?"

"Kai, yeah, a fleeting glimpse before Amanda toppled over dead. Kai later told someone that I had been an innocent bystander and didn't deserve to die. Had another girlfriend steal my mail and credit card from me, cost me more than $65,000. She paid it back but it took me awhile to get my formerly excellent credit score fixed. That one's in jail."

"I can't even fathom."

"Trust me, you're better off if you don't try!" Tim suddenly laughed, "And this one was just a fun date for a couple of weeks, no relationship ever implied, no expectations. But still, she cheated on her fiancée and used me to do it. I'd say I'm done with women but…well, you know."

"Yeah, can't live with them or can't live without them."

"Pretty much! Well, let's get some dinner, pick up the car and get going, shall we? I'm glad we're going out of town!"

Their plans that weekend were to rent a car and drive to Bath Friday night. They took in the sights early Saturday and then drove to Stratford-Upon-Avon in the late afternoon. By now James was learning to think like Tim as far as planning and they had purchased tickets online for a Shakespeare play Saturday evening. They'd plotted the driving times well and since James understood the roads in his own country, reached both Bath and Stratford with no problems. Their hotels were comfortable and both men enjoyed seeing both the ancient Roman baths where the guide told them the water they were looking at was 2000 years old, the delicious ice cream shop just down the street, a lot of Georgian architecture and the river Avon flowing through town. They'd had time to relax in the park and listen to the band music before they headed back to their car and got on the road to Stratford-Upon-Avon. The ride to SoA (as the natives seemed to refer to it which confused Tim, was it Upon Avon or On Avon?) was beautiful as they'd selected a route that took them through several small towns in the Cotswolds. Tim took the wheel for part of the drive, after extracting a promise from James not to fall asleep and leave him driving in a foreign country. At Cheltenham they switched again and it was Tim's turn to ooh and ahh over the wonderful landscape and the picturesque towns they went through. They stopped several times to take photos, for Tim it was thatched roofs, the countryside and the ubiquitous sheep, for James it was mostly the lovely countryside, so alike and yet so different from his own home region. Both young men were very happy that they'd chosen to drive on the smaller roads rather than the faster Motorway.

After thoroughly enjoying the play Saturday night, the two men were up and looking around the town early Sunday morning. They ate at their hotel before checking out and heading into the heart of the town. Stratford-Upon-Avon was very much a tourist town although they could see that it was also very much a residential city. Both were quite happy with their day there. They visited Anne Hathaway's home and Holy Trinity Church where the Bard was buried in 1616. As he had in Bath, Tim purchased postcards for both his own keepsakes and to send to his siblings, Ducky and the Palmers. He'd already sent one to the Vance children from the London Eye, knowing the kids would enjoy that more than any historical building. He also found a few little things that he thought people would enjoy and for his own memories. He'd never before had the luxury of buying souvenirs or traveling at all really outside of his book tours and he enjoyed seeing all the quite useless but fun items other people were buying and purchasing a few of those himself. He and James had their photo taken, James saying he needed proof he'd traveled with a famous author. Laughing, Tim or rather Thom later autographed the photo when it was printed.

They reached home late Sunday night after first dropping their belongings at the flat and then turning the car into the rental place and taking a cab home again. As always, Tim slept well and rose early the next morning, ready to begin his third week on the project, his third week in London.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Fasten your seat belts and hang on, there's a lot going on in this chapter.

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Chapter Five

DC – NCIS Headquarters

By the end of that first Friday, the day Tim left for London, Gibbs had finished reading Tim's extensive file and was feeling many different emotions. Remorse and guilt played a big part, along with anger that he'd never bothered getting to know the man he'd just lost from his team. Strangely enough, he also felt pride in the young man's accomplishments, even though he'd had nothing to do with them. He had a meeting set with Vance for early evening and sent DiNozzo home before he went upstairs. DiNozzo's attitude had not improved during the morning and had taken a further hit when they discovered that there had been a surprise going away party for Tim that morning attended by many in the office, a party to which they had pointedly not been invited. Ducky had apologized to Gibbs; he admitted he had anticipated a few people attending, not the entire office. Gibbs just grunted, he didn't see what the difference was between a few or all, Tim's former team and their forensic scientist had still been snubbed. Not that he cared about a party, but it did hurt. And that was when Gibbs realized that their treatment of McGee, _his_ treatment of McGee, had been well known and disapproved of throughout the office. DiNozzo of course had blamed Tim, even though it had been a surprise party; Gibbs hadn't even ventured to ask about Abby's reaction.

He wondered if they would be fired and prepared to offer his head on the chopping block to save the careers of the other two. Everything that had happened or not happened would be laid at his door, he was the Team Leader and although not Abby's supervisor, he was the only one who had any real influence with her. As he reached the catwalk on the way to his meeting with his boss, he stopped and adjusted his posture to stand ramrod straight, shoulders squared before continuing toward the Director's suite.

Vance had decided to first review McGee's experiences with the MCRT and some of his personal notes on cases taken from the case files. He would let Gibbs digest them over the weekend and first thing next week he would let the man know his options. Most of Vance's information had not come from Agent McGee himself. He had filed for reimbursement for his jacket after Abby had deliberately ruined it during the dog mauling incident. Shepard had denied the reimbursement; Pam found a copy of the request and Shepard's notes in the back of a filing cabinet. The only incident report Agent McGee had ever filed was over the hot tub incident. Unfortunately, Vance had been injured in the safe house bombing shortly after and the report had sunk to the bottom of the pile on his desk, ignored by "Acting Director" Gibbs and had never been addressed. Other than those two items, Vance's information had come from years of observation of the team and the complaints of other teams and employees over the attitude of DiNozzo, David, Sciuto and Gibbs himself toward McGee. When Vance had moved into the office, he and Pam had found a file folder full of complaints against their forensic tech, not only for her show of favoritism toward the MCRT but for her attitude toward everyone else. Vance had been further dismayed to find that other Team Leaders and the Supervisor of the Evidence Garage had filed detailed complaints against Ms. Sciuto for her treatment of Special Agent McGee. Now it was time to share all this with Gibbs. The director found it hard to believe the man had been completely blind so he would pay special attention to Gibbs' reaction to it all. So that they would have something in print, Leon had had Pam put together a list of all the topics and incidents that he would be covering today.

Gibbs walked out of the Director's office three hours later, a humbled, heartsick and stricken man. It was worse than he'd expected and he wondered how and why Tim had stuck around for so long. Having just learned of his orphaned state and abandonment by his guardian, Gibbs was further horrified that he in effect had hired McGee and then done virtually the same thing, abandoned him. Although there had been plenty of abuse too, judging from the complaints Gibbs had heard. He now had copies of everything that had been discussed and he would spend the weekend and likely the next weeks going through them and discussing them with his remaining team member and Abby. He was sickened at what his youngest agent had endured and knowing he'd allowed it, had directly contributed in some cases, made it even worse.

By the following Monday, both DiNozzo and Abby had begun to get the idea that their actions and attitudes toward McGee had not gone unnoticed and that they were about to pay the consequences, beyond Tim leaving their lives. Vance hadn't mentioned the fact to Gibbs but Abby told him that weekend, she was already on probation for her conduct and failure to follow more than one direct order from Vance. Gibbs knew that Vance could choose to make this the final nail in her coffin, signaling the end of her career at NCIS. While she was one of the best forensic scientists around, there were others who were just as talented and who better fit the agency model. Unfortunately Abby's attitude and actions had apparently drowned out her stellar work and lessened her worth to the agency.

DiNozzo was still angry with Tim for leaving, calling him a coward and a variety of other derogatory names. Gibbs finally pushed the man into a chair and laid the files in front of him, had him read them aloud, beginning with the most current and working his way back to the early days. DiNozzo did a fair amount of whining until he realized what he was reading came from outside the team, not from his former co-worker. When Gibbs further emphasized that Tim had only filed one incident report in the ten years he'd been on the team and that the pile of files in front of Tony was indeed from outside their team, DiNozzo started to get it. By the end of the weekend, he'd gone from speculating about accepting a team of his own to worrying about having a job at all. Unfortunately, he was still blaming Tim for the whole thing.

The following Monday Vance met with Gibbs again and heard about his meetings over the weekend with his SFA and Abby. Vance quickly disabused Gibbs of the idea that DiNozzo was still anyone's Senior Field Agent, informing him that the younger man was being demoted to a junior agent and re-assigned to the Bremerton WA office. It was a small office, a satellite of the larger Seattle office and run by a former Marine, younger than DiNozzo and even more of a hard-ass than Gibbs. It was DiNozzo's last chance with NCIS, he either learned how to be a decent human being and team player or he was out. There would be no head slaps to help him refocus or redirect. However, before he was transferred, he and Gibbs would be handling one last cold case together: the murders of Commander Daniel McGee and Patrick McGee, Tim's father and younger brother.

Gibbs tried to throw himself in front of the train to save Tony, but Vance wouldn't budge, telling him that although he would face consequences of his own, both DiNozzo and Sciuto were chronologically adults, middle aged adults as a matter of fact, and responsible for their own actions.

While Gibbs had been in with his boss, Ms. Cooke had scheduled appointments with DiNozzo and Sciuto for later in the morning. Vance wanted everything done before lunch so the one would be gone from the building, gossip would run its course and productivity would ramp back up in the afternoon. Vance further told Gibbs that Ms. Sciuto's usual temp replacement Ginger would arrive as Ms. Sciuto was leaving, verifying that he was indeed letting her go.

Gibbs was still in Vance's office when DiNozzo dragged himself upstairs for his appointment. He had come in last night and packed his personal items, leaving the boxes under his desk, out of sight, still hoping for another chance to redeem his career. He knew he was a good investigator, now he was facing the truths of what a miserable bully he'd been toward his co-worker. Seems McGeek had not been pretending to hate the teasing that people saw as bullying, and his pranks. Gibbs was in trouble for not disciplining him, for not bringing about a change in behavior when Tim told Tony he had crossed a line. Tony was angry, with himself, with Gibbs, but still mostly with Tim. Even though he hadn't turned in complaints, apparently he'd influenced others to do so, the little weasel. DiNozzo was pretty good at denial and he was doing his best to ignore the small part of him that was telling him it wasn't Tim's fault, that it was his own fault.

When he stood at parade rest in front of Vance's desk and heard that he had been demoted, his first thought was relief that he still had a job, his second thought was to hope that he would be reassigned outside of DC to avoid complete humiliation. He was almost happy to hear he'd been assigned to the Bremerton office as it was on the opposite end of the continent until he realized the SAIC there was even tougher than Gibbs. He tried not to gulp or blink when Vance told him it was his last chance and repeated what he'd said to Gibbs about learning to be a decent human being and a team player. When Vance further told him that the demotion was immediate but his transfer wasn't he felt his heart sink again. The Bremerton office currently had no time to re-train him, so he would be staying in DC and working on one case only. When DiNozzo heard what case it was, with no details, his anger flared again and it was only self preservation that kept his mouth shut this time.

DiNozzo was dismissed and Vance told Gibbs he was not allowed to stay during the termination meeting with Abby. He had done his homework with the Legal Department and as Gibbs had no managerial role over the woman, it would be illegal for him to be in the room. Vance handed Gibbs the McGee case file and the man left, not sure if he was relieved he couldn't stay or upset, finally settling on both. He was too restless after everything to return directly to work, so he headed out for coffee. Gibbs felt like his heart was being ripped in half, but then he'd been pretty much feeling that way since Tim had walked into his basement the previous Thursday. The rest of that afternoon was spent familiarizing themselves with the McGee case and outlining their plan. On Tuesday, while Tony worked the case, Gibbs met with Vance again and this time was told his options: a whole new team selected by Vance or early retirement. He was given the rest of the week to make his decision. He wasn't ready to retire, he knew that and although he didn't want a new team, he did see it as a chance for some sort of redemption.

As they got deeper into the McGee case, both men were sickened at the pain and suffering they'd inflicted on a young man who'd already suffered but had never been a victim. Follow up interviews with the original agent on the case, now retired, and various police and medical reports led them to the murderer, Tim's stepmother. They located her and were able to also locate the vehicle she'd used to kill the McGees and seriously injure young Tim. It was in the hands of a collector who had never touched anything on the vehicle. When tested, plenty of evidence was pulled off and they formally arrested the woman for murder and attempted murder. They further proved her abandonment, as she had been Tim and Sarah's guardian, and added that charge. Within a week, they had the case wrapped up and the murderess in custody.

* * *

A/N: For anyone wanting further details of the murders of Tim's family, read "At What Price". Details of his childhood on the streets are also in that story, with additional detail in "Oh Brother!".


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

DC-NCIS Headquarters

Gibbs gave Vance his decision; he would take a new team. Vance nodded and then told him he would first have to serve a month's suspension with no pay while Vance put together the team.

As the end of the case signaled DiNozzo's departure, by the end of the second week after Tim's re-assignment, the former SFA was on his way to the Bremerton office. By the time he left, his anger toward Tim had turned inward; he was finally beginning to understand how his behavior had been bullying, how it had undermined and shown complete disrespect for his former co-worker.

Gibbs saw DiNozzo off at the airport. Remembering that they were a family as well as a team, Gibbs reassured Tony of his continuing affection and told him that families didn't necessarily disintegrate under circumstances like these. He promised Tony that they would stay in touch and that he would not just let the younger man drift away. That helped DiNozzo considerably and he was able to walk away knowing he at least still had his surrogate dad, no matter what. He said that to Gibbs before he left and Gibbs had to swallow past the lump in his throat, thinking that the other man he'd thought of as his surrogate son had never known, had never been told or shown any respect or affection.

Gibbs felt his heart was being pulled into pieces and that he had no one to blame but the sorry looking asshole in the mirror. By that weekend Ducky had told him of Tim's reaction to his idea of writing him and he was somewhat heartened by that. He'd lost his team but if he worked at it, he might have a chance of saving his family. Unfortunately, deciding to write a letter was a whole lot easier than doing so and Gibbs spent many of the early hours of his suspension trying to put words that conveyed his feelings down on paper.

He was surprised by Ducky walking in with dinner one evening; he was once again sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by mounds of scrunched up notepaper.

"Good heavens, Jethro, what are you doing?"

Gibbs sighed, "Still trying to write a letter to McGee, Duck. Happens I'm not any better at writing words than I am saying them."

"What is it that you're trying to say?"

"I just want to tell him that I'm sorry, that I hope I can prove to him how much I do care about him and wish him good luck with whatever he's doing now."

"Ah yes, well at least I can tell you more about that now. That was my idea, not Timothy's, and he has no problem with you knowing where he is, as long as he is allowed to work in peace."

"Meaning?"

"No phone calls from you… and you do not let DiNozzo or Abigail know where he is."

"Won't come from me, but DiNozzo's 3000 miles away and I have no idea where Abby will end up."

"Very well. Timothy is currently in London working on a special project for the Director. He is project manager there and is the happiest I have ever seen or heard him. In this short amount of time, he has made several friends and is dating a woman he met at work."

"On his team?"

"No, thankfully not; she is an Intel Analyst."

"So he's working at the London NCIS office?"

"Yes, but he is not to be disturbed as he only has another week or so there."

"And then? Is he coming home?"

"No Jethro, at least not to the home you mean. His next posting is to the Athens office. He will initially serve as their junior agent while he expands his level of field experience, since he had so little while on your team. Then he will shadow the SFA who is having a difficult pregnancy and will be put on bed rest within a month of Timothy's arrival. The SAIC and Vance's plan is for our lad to be up to speed and to have swapped places with the woman by the time she goes on leave. At that point he will be officially promoted to SFA. Vance told me the SAIC spot will be open in three years, possibly before then and he expects Timothy to be ready to step up, unless he chooses to be once again reassigned."

"She's not coming back to work?"

"No, she's expecting twins; it is her first pregnancy after many years of marriage. She plans to stay home."

"If she changes her mind?"

Ducky chuckled, "Those are the same questions Timothy asked the Director."

"And?"

"She will be given a job at the office but not her old position, which will remain Timothy's."

"Good." Gibbs paused, "So he's gone on to better things. And he's happy? Is he happy about going to Athens too? It's so far from home, from his siblings."

"Ahh, yes, the director did mention he ordered you to read Timothy's file."

"Have you?"

"Just his medical history."

"Do you know about his life, his horrible childhood?"

"Yes, Jethro, Timothy told me several years ago. I was volunteering at a shelter in Baltimore and saw a photograph on the wall of the kitchen that looked like a young and desperate Timothy with two toddlers. I mentioned it to him and he told me the story."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Timothy did not want your sympathy, Jethro. He wanted you to get to know him for himself, not his nightmare of a childhood. And he asked me to keep the information to myself; I gave my word."

"But it would have… I don't know, Duck, I can't even figure out why I acted the way I have all these years. I don't have an answer."

"Do you know why you hired him?"

"He stood up to me without flinching, that first time I met him, down at Norfolk. Do you remember? He had that face mask on and gloves?"

"Yes, and you and Anthony made fun of him, for following the rules laid out in the NCIS Safety manual. It never stopped, did it Jethro?"

Gibbs sighed, "No."

"So why did you hire him? Surely not just because he didn't flinch."

"There was something about him; I've never had a civilian on my team before. Stan had his naval background; Viv Blackadder came from the FBI, and the others you know. But something about McGee's intuition – and his education. "

"You hate 'college boys'!"

"I hate college boys who brag about it and talk non-stop about it."

"You are contradicting yourself right and left tonight Jethro. You have now just described Anthony whom you actively recruited to your team."

"Yeah I know."

"Back to Timothy, what else?"

"He pitched in, whatever I told him to do – when I'd get him TAD'd up here, he'd just do it, ask how to do it or figure it out himself. No whining, no comments, he just did it. And he's brilliant…I know I hate technology but I recognized a need for it and I wanted to jump in before everyone else did. No way was he going to last long in that poky little office, one of the alphabets would have snapped him up."

"So you did first."

"Took me awhile, had to persuade Morrow."

"And I believe you told him, on the day he was transferred, that he was 'yours'?"

Gibbs sighed, "Yeah, I did."

"Which you promptly proved by either ignoring or abusing him or worse, allowing your favorites to abuse him. FOR **TEN YEARS**, JETHRO, HOW COULD YOU BE **SO STUPID**, **SO HEARTLESS, SO BLIND, SO…UNFEELING, CALLOUS, ABUSIVE AND NEGLECTFUL**? YOU CONSTANTLY BRAG ABOUT MARINES NEVER LEAVING A MAN BEHIND WHILE YOU WERE DOING JUST THAT. **WHY**? "

Gibbs flinched at Ducky's angry and uncharacteristically loud words, he'd known it was coming, knew that he deserved it, hell he deserved far more than that, but still it hurt. Then he thought about the angry tones and words he'd used for those ten years…directed at Tim McGee.

"I don't know, Duck."

"Well you'd better figure it out because I'm not approving any letter to Timothy until you do."

"Nothing? But won't he think…won't that make him feel bad again, Duck, when you told him I was going to write?"

"Fine, sit down and take a clean piece of paper, I will dictate what you may say to him until you figure out WHY you've treated him so badly all these years. You need counseling at least, Jethro, there is something wrong with you that you could behave like this and sanction his bullying by your two favorites. That is not the behavior of a mentally well balanced human being."

"You're saying that I'm mentally unbalanced?"

"I am saying that you are not mentally well balanced."

"That's harsh."

"Look in the mirror, read the list Vance gave you out loud and tell me that's harsh, Gibbs."

"I've already done that, Dr. Mallard. I have no excuses."

"You must, there must be a reason or reasons you treated him so badly. I'm not letting this go."

Gibbs suddenly sat down and pulled the paper out. "Dictate the letter and then get out of here. I've had enough."

"Really, you are quite the wussy boy then, aren't you, former Gunnery Sergeant? Can't even handle a little backchat."

That was enough and Gibbs wailed at him, "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY? TO DO? I SCREWED UP, BEYOND MEASURE. I DON'T KNOW WHY, I DON'T KNOW WHY. I don't know why and I don't know how to fix it. I've lost my boy, Ducky, my youngest and he never even knew how I felt. He thinks I don't give a crap about him, he doesn't…he doesn't know, he doesn't know…" Gibbs went from yelling to a whisper and ended with his head resting on his arms on the table. Ducky started to feel a twinge of sympathy but then remembered the anguish in Tim's face, his eyes, time after time. He bore responsibility in this too; he should have done far more than he had and years ago. At the least he should have encouraged the lad to leave the team or the agency.

He took a deep breath, "Here is what you will say to Timothy:

Dear Tim,

Ducky has restricted what I can say to you. I am only allowed to say what my heart feels right now - sorrow that I have caused you such anguish, that I have failed you so thoroughly. And hope for your good fortune in your new position. There is far more that I want to say but until I understand why I did what I did, I am not allowed to say more.

Sign it, address the envelope to Tim; include your return address in case he is foolish enough or angry enough to write back; put the letter in, seal the envelope and give it to me."

Gibbs followed his directions and sealed the envelope with a lick. The doctor grabbed it and left.

Gibbs sat in anguish for several minutes before bolting to the downstairs bathroom to lose everything he'd consumed that day. After he was done heaving, he sat on the floor in the bathroom, wishing he was dead. He'd never felt like this, this horrible feeling…the knowledge that for years he'd blindly hurt or allowed the abuse of another human being, not a criminal, not a dirtbag, for no apparent reason. Someone he cared about, although he didn't know if he could even think that since he'd never shown the slightest concern for him. Duck was right, he needed to know why and now he also needed to know if he was mentally unbalanced. That scared him and he wanted to crawl in a hole and die. He forced himself to stay out of the basement and easy access to his sniper rifle. As much as he wished he could just check out, that would hurt Tim even worse. And he'd promised Tony he'd be there for him. And it probably would hurt Ducky too. And his Dad.

Thinking of Jackson, he made a decision. He didn't want to be alone for the next month, he was afraid all his good intentions would go to hell and he'd either drink himself into a stupor or kill himself. He shook his head, he needed to get himself together enough to call his father and then get himself to Stillwater.

XXX

Stillwater:

Two days later, Gibbs walked into his father's store just before closing time. He hadn't managed to contact Jack before he left, he'd barely mustered enough presence of mind to throw some clothes in a bag, get in the car and drive to Stillwater.

Jack took one look at him, "Who?"

"What, Dad?"

"Who died, Leroy? You look like hell, you smell even worse and you didn't bother calling first. Now I don't mind that, I'm grateful you came to me – and got here safely – but who, son?"

"He didn't die."

"Thank God. Tim, Tony, Ducky or Jimmy?"

"Tim."

"How bad and why aren't you with him?"

"He's not injured, Dad, he left."

"Left NCIS?"

"No, left me… left the team."

"What did you do to that young man, Leroy?"

"I was awful to him, Dad, me and Tony and Abby, even Ziva. For years and years. And I don't know why."

"You been fired?"

"No, suspended for a month and I've lost the team."

"Not much team left, Ziva's already gone, Tim's gone, just leaves Tony."

"He's been demoted and reassigned to an office out west."

"And Tim, where is he, is he all right?"

"I'm not allowed to contact him…well Ducky told me what to write in a letter to him but I'm not allowed to speak with him or write him any more letters, until…"

"I didn't ask about you, I asked about Tim."

"Ducky says he's happier than he's ever seen or heard him. He's in England now, working on a special project and then he'll be promoted to a new job in Athens."

"Don't suppose you mean the one in Georgia?"

"No, Dad, Greece."

"So you'll never see him again."

Jethro just nodded wearily. "I…Dad, I couldn't stay at home, I was afraid... afraid I'd do something stupid."

"Proud of you for getting yourself here, son and I'm your father, I'm always going to love you. But I'm ready to kick your ass already."

Jethro whispered, "I wish you would, I wish someone would."

"It won't make what you did go away, Leroy, physical pain won't. "

"I know. But I can't talk to Tim until I figure out why and I don't know how to do that and I…I didn't want to be alone, Dad. I can't do that again, I did it when I lost Shannon and Kelly, I can't do it again."

Jack's assistant, the young man who routinely did the nightly closings for him, had come into the shop and looked back and forth between the two men. Jack's friend Marge was also in the store, having a quick coffee in the back when Jethro came in. Marge spoke up now. "I'll watch the store for a few minutes. Henry, help Jack get his son home and into the house, then come back and I'll go help Jack."

Henry nodded and he helped Jack with his son, who seemed barely able to walk. They got him in the back seat of Henry's car; Jack took the car keys from his son and retrieved his bag and a jacket, locking the car and then climbed in the passenger seat of Henry's car. Henry drove them to the house where they manhandled Jethro out of the car, into the house and onto the couch. Then Henry went back for the bag and jacket.

Jack spoke, "Henry, can you handle the store tomorrow? Got other plans? "

Henry shook his head, "No Mr. Gibbs, I can run the store tomorrow. You'll be on the phone if I need you?"

"Yeah, going to stay home with my boy, things aren't going so well for him right now."

"Sure, that's good he's here Mr. Gibbs. Is there anything else I can do?"

"No son, that's fine. Thank you for your help, appreciate it."

"I'll send Miss Marge when I get back."

"Appreciate that too, Henry." The young man drove off as Jack took the quilt off his son's old bed upstairs and draped it over him on the couch. He went into the kitchen and looked around. His kid seemed like he was in shock. He wanted to call his own doctor, but decided he'd better check in with Ducky first. He called his cell and got an answer right away. "Jackson, is everything all right?"

"Yes and no, Ducky. Wanted to let you know Leroy just showed up here, told me Tim left the team and then he just seemed to fall apart. He hasn't said a word since, he's lying on the couch with his eyes closed, could barely walk, I had to have help getting him to the house."

"My Lord, did he drive up by himself?"

"Yes. Left the car at the store. I want to call Doc Howard but thought I'd better check in with you first."

"I'm grateful you let me know he's there. We had some very unpleasant words between us two days ago and I stormed out. You must understand, Jack, Jethro has been cruel to Timothy and allowed others to be cruel to him for years and he doesn't seem to know why, he wasn't even aware of it until our Director made a list of incidents."

"He told me he'd been awful to him and allowed Tony and Abby to mistreat him. But Tim's not a child, Ducky, I don't understand."

"It's a long and sad story, Jack, Timothy has been mistreated since he was a young boy and as with any abused soul, kept trying to make things better, hoping his abusers would see how hard he was trying and show respect and affection for him."

"My God, that's horrible."

"Yes, it is."

"Leroy said that you said Tim is happy now, happier than you've ever seen him."

"Yes, he's in London, having a wonderful time. I think it's probably the first time he's allowed himself to have a good time since he was a very young boy."

"Ducky, I don't know if this is the right thing to say, but if it is, would you please give Timothy my love? It sounds like he needs to know about those of us who do care about him."

"He does and I will, Jack. It might not be right away, but I will. Now about Jethro, let him sleep if he's asleep and don't let him have any alcohol. He needs good nourishing food, no fried or sugary things; well he doesn't really have a sweet tooth, does he?"

"No. What about coffee?"

"It's no use keeping it from him, he'll just start going through withdrawals and make things worse. No more than 6 cups a day."

"Ok."

"Plenty of other fluids, Jack, water when you can get it down him. Juice is good, apple, not orange, too acidic right now. Don't let him drive and keep him warm."

"Ok, I have one other question. He said he's been suspended from work, but I don't know when he needs to be back down there."

"He's just got started, so most of the next month. But if he hasn't improved enough to know the date by then, he won't be able to come back; we'll need to get him some other help."

"Psychiatric?"

"Yes, that will be best."

"Wow. Ok, Ducky, I'll keep in touch; let you know how he's doing."

"Thank you, my friend; that will be good. If he hasn't improved in 48 hours, please call your Dr. Howard and let me know as well. "

When the call was ended, Jack took a look at his son who was still asleep, probably best for him. He heard someone at the kitchen door and turned to see Marge tiptoeing in with a bag of groceries.

"How is he?"

"Sound asleep."

"What's the matter with him, Jack? I didn't hear what he was saying, just that he sounded more upset than I've heard him since…well, you know."

"Yeah, I know since his girls died. It's a long story, Marge and I don't know enough of it yet to share."

"I understand. How about if I make some dinner for the two of you? Something that can be re-heated later if he doesn't want to eat now."

Jack nodded, "Thanks." He sat in his chair in the living room and watched his son breathe, hurting for him and hurting for Tim. He thought the world of the young man and ached to hear of the abuse, not just by his son and the others but in his younger life as well.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Week Three – London

The project was going so well that the completion date had been revised to mid-week. Working with Vance and the SAIC, Tim was able to move the implementation date up to Friday, which would give the testers the weekend to suss out any bugs that might have evaded the project team during development. The implementation group was a sub group of Tim's team but he would not be needed for the move to production itself, as long as he was reachable by cell and within 3 hours of travel to London. Vance and the SAIC agreed that Tim would be needed at least in the early part of the following week but would not be needed over the weekend. As James was not part of the implementation group, that left him free as well and the pair took a look at their list to determine where they could go that was within a 3 hour drive. That was the other caveat, that they not be dependent upon train or plane schedules if they were needed back in the office.

Three hours gave Tim and James plenty of choices, however there was no question as to where they were headed. As they rode home that night, they talked about it. "I have to tell you, Tim, there's one place we haven't been, I haven't been, that I've dreamed of going to my whole life!"

Tim smiled, "I have a place like that too, James. Hope we can see them both in the same weekend! What's your have-to-see?"

James grinned, "Salisbury Plain!" Tim laughed, "Cool! That's where I want to go too. Is it within the three hour drive perimeter?"

A man standing next to James jumped into the conversation, "It's not even two hours from here, mate! Can't touch them anymore, used to be able to get right up to the stones! "

James shook his head, "It doesn't matter; I just want to see them in person."

Tim nodded, "I've had Stonehenge on my "must see" list since I was 7 years old!" The friendly stranger spoke again. "Really, in America?"

Tim nodded, "Of course, we like ancient ruins. We even have some, the Native American pueblos in Colorado and New Mexico. We'll have more of our own someday, just haven't gotten there yet!" That brought good natured laughter from several people and James and Tim departed at their stop with a few other passengers wishing them a "good look at the ruins."

Over dinner at the pub, they agreed Salisbury Plain would indeed be their destination. Tim wanted more though. "I'd really like to see the Cathedral and the city of Salisbury too. I read this book called Sarum years ago and I've wanted to poke around in that church ever since." He laughed, "And Stonehenge, wow! As a writer I've fascinated by the mystery surrounding the origin and purpose of the ruins of the stone circle. As an investigator, I want to know the how along with the why and what. How were those stones moved from over one hundred and fifty miles away to this place using the tools available in 3000 B.C. - more than 5000 years ago? I have to warn you I'm probably going to be an idiot and embarrass you, James!"

"It'll likely be a mutual idiocy then, Tim, I feel the same way. That book you mentioned, is that the one that told the story of England through the tales of several families in and around Salisbury? I remember the construction of the cathedral and it seemed like the story I read, if it's the same one, stretched from prehistoric times to the 1980s."

Tim nodded, "Yeah, sure sounds like the same one. So do you think we can do Stonehenge and Salisbury in one day? What about Sunday? Should we come back to London Saturday night or look for what else we can see?"

"Let's keep going! I bet if we go Friday night or really early Saturday morning we can see Stonehenge, the Cathedral and Salisbury and then go on to someplace to spend the night and see something else the next day."

"I know we're too far from Scotland or Ireland, what about Wales? I know it's west of here but how far?" Tim laughed, "James, you have to visit the States, then you'll understand my confusion. In my country, there are places you can drive for 12-15 hours and still be in the same state, like California or Texas. On the Eastern Seaboard where I've lived most of my life, a 3 hour drive could mean a drive in the country or going through 2 states, just depends on which direction and of course the traffic."

By this time they'd finished dinner, played a game of darts and were walking home. James' reply was that they needed to grab the map and look online for the distance and time between places. When they got in, they found the well-used map and saw that Salisbury was indeed less than 2 hours drive from London. James remembered someone saying South Wales was "just about a 3 hour drive" from London, so they found Cardiff on the map, looked online to see what there was to see, although Tim said it would just be fun to say they'd been to Wales.

Tim pursed his lips, "I know we've got this all parsed out, but do we come home Saturday night and leave again Sunday morning?" James pointed to the roads on the map, "Look, I think this should be a fairly direct drive from Salisbury to Cardiff, and you'll see more countryside. We could have a stop or two, get into Cardiff at whatever time and see the Castle and museum the next day." He used his finger to outline the road on the map. Tim liked the idea but it still seemed a little iffy for him. As they had a couple of days, he decided to run it past Joel to make sure the trip to Wales wasn't too far off the circle.

When he got to work the next morning, Tim had a status meeting with Joel. After finishing their business, Tim paused, "Joel, about this weekend. Is it really all right if I'm not here? I mean, as the Project Manager, it just seems a little strange…"

Joel nodded, "I understand, but with the extensive testing that's been done, there should only be minor glitches, if any at all. And your team can handle those. If you were here in London all weekend, you would still only be expected to answer your phone. And really, if you think of it, this is a good time to let Will step up and handle things if there is a problem. If there's a major problem, then we've done something incredibly stupid either in the testing or the implementation and I do not believe that to be so, nothing like that is going to happen. Not with the quality of development and testing you and your team have given us. Where are you two planning on going?"

Tim was mollified although he knew he'd be checking in throughout the weekend. Joel saw the look on his face and said, "Checking in is fine…you can call Will. But you need to trust your team."

That hit home and Tim had to swallow, he hadn't thought of it that way and trusting his team wasn't exactly something he was used to. He nodded at Joel.

"So…where are you off to?" Tim shook off the mild anxiety. "Stonehenge, then Salisbury to see the Cathedral and the city. We were thinking of driving to South Wales Saturday night, to Cardiff, but I wanted to run it by you first."

"That's not a bad drive from Salisbury to Cardiff and you'll still be within your 3 hour range. And Cardiff itself is fine." Joel paused, "Are you interested in dinosaur fossils at all?"

Tim's eyes lit up and the SAIC chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes! There's a beach there, across the causeway, one of the Barry beaches, I believe it's called Bendricks' beach and the rocks there have plainly visible dinosaur tracks."

Tim grinned, "Oh yeah, we're going to Cardiff." Joel clapped him on the shoulder, "Go, enjoy, do your best not to worry. I know that's part of what makes you so good at what you do, but try not to anyway, all right?"

Tim nodded his agreement and waved a hand as he left the other man's office. The day's work continued on schedule and that night the two flat mates reserved a rental car, to be picked up Friday after work and a room in Cardiff for Saturday night. With the move to the production servers happening Friday night, Tim decided they would wait and leave for Stonehenge early Saturday morning. The implementation and early user testing went well Friday, so it was with a clear conscience and high expectations that he and James drove out of London just before dawn on Saturday. They reached Salisbury Plain and Stonehenge before the morning mists had dispersed and the two congratulated themselves on their planning. Seeing the ancient rock ruin first surrounded in mist and then viewing it as the mist dissipated made the mystery and aura even more fascinating. When they finally admitted they'd finally had enough, walked around the ruins several times, taken their fill of photos at all points, bought post cards, written and mailed them, they reluctantly climbed back in their rental and headed for Salisbury. They had lunch there and spent a few hours in the cathedral and walking around the city. Tim was amused at his endless interest in cathedrals, considering that he was at most an agnostic. But the building of cathedrals was a big part of European history and he loved the stories, the architecture and he supposed the comfort of ritual.

Strolling around town, Tim had to resist the urge to start buying gifts for everyone, an urge that had started last weekend in Stratford on Avon. He looked through the shops to see if there were any little souvenirs to buy his team. He had an idea for something to do later with a team photo, but now he had another idea. As a geek, he understood the love of toys. Not just electronic toys but silly things that could be placed on desks and played with while waiting for computer programs to tick over or one was puzzling out a tough piece of code. If he hadn't been sure DiNozzo would appropriate them in a matter of minutes, Tim would have had any number of items on his desk at NCIS. So now he looked for toys for his geeks. Realizing he could easily have help with this, he said something to James. "Hey, I was thinking about bringing back stuff for everyone…I thought about tee shirts that say something about Stonehenge, Cardiff and Zero Bugs with the date."

James nodded, "Yeah that'd be fine."

"Uh huh. Or we get everyone a trinket for their desk. Maybe all the same or several different ones?"

"Several different ones with a few extra of each in case one goes over better than the others?"

"Ah, a diplomatic solution, I like your thinking! Ok, let's go search. I haven't had desk toys in nearly 10 years, so I'm going to follow your lead."

"Huh, I get to pick?"

"Yep!"

"I saw these little mini Stonehenge's, those would be cool and I think you could take them apart, move the sarsens, the big standing stones, around. You know, from ancient technology to the modern…the mystery."

"Ok, remember where you saw them? "

"Um…yeah, that store where you bought the cathedral shaped postcard."

"Ok, let's go back." The store was only a block back. When Tim went to the clerk to ask for more of the mini Stonehenge's, he was disheartened to find he wouldn't be able to buy the number he'd planned. The clerk leaned forward and whispered to him, "There's one other store in Salisbury that sells these. The name is…" and the clerk gave him the name and quietly advised him to call ahead as these tiny toys were quite popular. Tim found the store with his phone and called them, relieved to find that they had enough in stock to make up the numbers. James stayed in the original store while Tim hurried off to buy the rest of the Stonehenge trinkets. While Tim was gone, James discovered a miniature cathedral building kit and he gathered several for Tim to see when he returned. Tim bought a few of those too. It was looking more like they might have four different items for his team to choose from.

By mid-afternoon, James and Tim decided they were ready to hit the road. Tim had checked in with Will during the morning and Will called him later to let him know the second round of production testing had gone off without a single glitch…not a single bug or problem. Tim was feeling confident as they drove off toward Cardiff, taking a side road so they could stop in Glastonbury for a visit. Their interest in Glastonbury was simply that the town had been a settlement of one sort or another since Neolithic times. That tickled the interest of Tim the history buff. While they were there, Tim vaguely remembered Abby referring to Glastonbury for something like crop circles but he couldn't grab the memory. He hadn't known of the Glastonbury connection to the Arthurian legend and that would interest Sarah, so he bought a postcard for her, wrote it out, bought the appropriate stamp from the store keeper and mailed it from the town. His sister could come see for herself when she arrived in a few weeks.

Back in the car, Tim took the wheel, again with the caveat that James stay awake to keep him from forgetting that he was driving in the United Kingdom and not on the DC Beltway. The trip northwest to Cardiff was an easy drive and they pulled into the hotel in less time than either had thought possible.

Setting off from their hotel, they found the small family restaurant recommended by the clerk at the front desk and enjoyed their meal. Cardiff Castle, in the middle of town, was already closed for the evening so they enjoyed the lights as they walked around the city center. They stopped in at a lively sounding pub and enjoyed the conviviality for a few hours before wandering back to their hotel. After breakfasting early on Sunday, they set out to tour Cardiff Castle and its extensive grounds. They took photos and bought postcards and Tim sent another one to the Vance children, figuring they'd like the idea of a real castle. Tim covertly watched James wander around the gift shop and knew he'd hit pay dirt when he saw him playing with the miniature castles. Grinning at his friend, Tim stepped beside him and gathered several of the trinkets, in boxes. There was also a small dragon trinket that Tim had to have for himself and James reached for too, so more of those went with them. At the hotel, James had read a brochure about the National History Museum at St. Fagan's in Cardiff, a large open air museum housing dozens of buildings from throughout Welsh history, all moved to the site in Cardiff. As they stood at the entrance to that, Tim mentioned that it reminded him somewhat of an open air museum he'd read about in Shelburne Vermont, on the edge of Lake Champlain, although that one was more contemporary than the one in Cardiff. While there weren't any 'geek' trinkets in the ubiquitous gift shop, Tim did see a small kit for building one of the 17th century Welsh buildings. Absently he reached for it, thinking it would make a perfect gift for Gibbs and then pulled his hand back, not knowing if he'd ever again be in contact with his former boss. He took one of the stores' business cards and was happy to see a website listed. He scribbled the brand name and model of the kit on the card. Just in case.

Remembering Joel's comments about the dinosaur tracks, the two young men got directions for the Barry beaches. They'd already checked out of their hotel, so this would be their last stop before heading back to London. They drove over the causeway to the string of beaches on Bristol Bay. They had been told to go to one specific beach called Bendricks, where the tracks could be seen and fossils might be found. As Joel had said, the beach itself featured easily visible fossilized dinosaur tracks in the rock. They parked the car and walked, marveling at the ancient traces and Tim took photos from every angle. Once they had the photos, they headed down the beach, away from everyone else. James had emptied two plastic shopping bags from their souvenir shopping and now each man held one, keeping an eye out for fossils or any indication that something lay beneath the sand. They found a few shells and James kept those to take to his mother who had never been to an ocean or bay such as this. They carefully walked a couple of miles on the beach, scanning the sand around them until the alarm on Tim's watch chimed to let them know it was time to return to the car. Heading back down the beach, Tim had his eyes on the dinosaur tracks and wasn't watching where he was going. Barefoot by now and carrying his shoes, he stubbed his toe on something and stopped to rub the painful digit. James stopped as well and looking down at Tim's toe, spotted what he'd stubbed it on. "Yo, Tim my friend, you may have found us something interesting here…or your toe did!" James squatted down and carefully dug the rest of the protuberance out of the sand. It was a rock - with a fossil imbedded in it. The men crowed with delight as they danced around with their fossil like two little boys. They dug around the area hoping to find a second fossil but to no avail. Happy with their find and their day, they brushed off as much sand as they could, put their shoes back on and turned the car toward London. On the way they decided they would alternate custody of the fossil. James would keep it for a year and then it would be sent to Tim in Greece, or perhaps he would pick it up when visiting Sarah and Rob.

Their return to work on Monday was with a feeling of triumph, not only over the discovery of the fossil but the great weekend and best of all, a trouble free implementation of their project. Tim thought this might mean he would be moving on to Greece by mid-week instead of over the weekend, but Vance announced he would be in London with the Secretary of the Navy and wanted to host a lunch for the entire team on Wednesday. The new application would be in production for use exclusively by the London office for another week and then the Athens office would take it, followed by the other European offices. Following their implementation it would move to Headquarters and on throughout the US and the other overseas offices. It was a big deal, combining several different databases and old applications into one interactive program and Vance wanted to make a big splash with its initial success. The fact that Tim would be featured prominently in any photos was just icing on the cake as far as Vance was concerned.

In the meantime, Tim had a wonderful time thanking his team with all the trinkets he'd brought home. Their last stop the night before had been to a news shop that always had souvenirs; James remembered seeing miniature London Eyes and those along with a number of toy taxis – the old fashioned kind – completed the collections. Tim later told Ducky he was blown away by his team's response to the toys. They'd ooh'd and ahh'd so much that Tim had to put everything away until lunchtime. By noon, he'd also put in a special order for shirts, with the name of the project and the caption, Zero Bugs, Production Perfect and the date. He'd talked to the company the previous week and ordered the right number of shirts in the various sizes needed, so those were all on hand. Now they would apply the captions and the shirts would be available Wednesday morning.

When Joel met with Tim to determine a place for the luncheon, Tim was surprised; he had assumed it would be held at the office with the food catered. There were nearly 30 people involved, 27 on his team including himself, plus Joel and Vance. The SAIC set him straight. The owner of the building that housed NCIS also owned a restaurant a few blocks over, one with a large enough private dining room and a decent menu. They would have their lunch there and the team would then have the rest of the afternoon off. Tim's eyes nearly bugged out at that but Joel just laughed at him and reminded him that he was the only Field Agent on his team and they could all be spared for a few hours.

By Wednesday, Tim had his own reports done and would combine them with his teams' reports when they finished. He'd also begun packing his belongings for the move to Piraeus. James had decided to hold off on looking for another flatmate. Rob was due to arrive in two weeks and James had offered to meet him at the airport and house him until he figured out where he wanted to live. With the tube so close, the flat might even be a possibility although Tim suspected Rob would want to be closer to the school and hospital where he'd be working. Sarah would arrive two weeks after that and James promised to meet her too, if Rob was agreeable, and help either or both get settled in. Tim's siblings had met James on Skype and his offer to assist them helped settle Tim's qualms about his baby sister and brother being in a foreign country by themselves. In his head he knew they would be fine but he had hoped that somehow their time in England would intersect with his. As that no longer seemed likely, James' offer was very welcome.

When the two men arrived at work on Wednesday, Tim was immediately called into Joel's office. Smiling, he entered after a cursory knock and was happy to see Vance waiting for him. He hadn't known he was homesick until he saw the man and then he had to swallow twice before he could speak. Vance, in an action that could only be described as unbelievable, pulled the young man into his arms and gave him a strong hug. Although stunned, Tim hugged him back and relished the brief seconds of home before he pulled back, smiling. "I'm sure Agent Morris has already said this, Sir, but welcome to London!" Behind him, Joel rolled his eyes at the formality.

"He has, Agent McGee, now stand still and let me look at you." Tim stood at parade rest, something his late father had taught him as soon as he could walk. Vance walked around him, nodding. "Yes, I believe I'll have a good report for Drs. Mallard and Palmer. You look fine, Timothy, healthier than I think I've ever seen you. Your eyes are sparkling, there are no circles under your eyes, and you haven't lost any more weight, that's all good. Yes indeed, the doctors will be very happy to hear all this, as will everyone else who's asked about you."

Joel smiled, "He's getting plenty of sleep in a bed, not at his desk, and having fun on his time off."

Vance grunted, "Fun, Timothy, is that so?"

Tim grinned at him, enjoying the affectionate teasing from both men. "Yes Sir. First of all, I'm eating real meals, 3 of them a day. Secondly, yes, I'm sleeping in a real bed rather than at my desk or on the floor. I also have a wonderful team who wouldn't know a McNickName, Gibbs-slap or Gibbs Rule if it bit them and none of them are dysfunctional ex cops, Marines, assassins or were raised by wolves. On the weekends, which have been mine - and my flat mate's - to command, I've visited nearly every tourist site on my list, even got as far as Wales this past weekend."

"Ah, yes, I have noticed the postcards on the fridge and the kids have a map of England on the wall now too, tracking your visits." Tim blushed at that, he knew Kayla was interested in history and Jared in cool places and had sent them a map as a fun way to stay connected.

Joel looked at him, his eyes twinkling, "I think you're forgetting something." When Tim looked at him, he nudged, "Your club date?" Tim groaned. "Thank you so much Joel, for bringing up that fiasco."

Leon's eyes lit up at hearing Tim refer to the SAIC by his first name, that's what he wanted to see, Tim becoming comfortable enough to use first names, to learn to trust again. He tilted his head, waiting. Tim was very familiar with the gesture and ran his fingers through his hair. "There was a girl who works here, not on my team though. A new club was opening and she really wanted to go to it. Several of us were meeting for dinner and she joined us. I knew the club was pretty exclusive, so I called ahead and told them I was…my alter ego…and bottom line, they let us into the club, which impressed the heck out of everyone but me. The Gemcity ID I have was a joke gift from Robbie but people just look at the photo and the name, not to see that it practically says FAKE on it."

"Hmm, I seem to remember a report about a troublesome club in DC."

"That was different, it was work and we ended up just going in and dancing, turned out the perp wasn't inside."

"Ok. So what happened at this club?"

"Mmm, the manager got a little greedy, came over to the table, said he was a fan, I was already writing an autograph, trying to keep him quiet, but it was too late. Within a few minutes, everyone at our table and the table next to us knew. Next thing I knew, there were a bunch of people asking for autographs, so rude, you know? The bouncers had to restrain people so we could slip out the back."

"Did it ruin your evening?"

"Yes."

"I'll bet it didn't ruin things for the young lady."

"I guess not, James said she was pretty happy."

Joel interjected, "What I don't think Tim knows as we've kept it quiet is that his visit to that club made the tabloids the next day. Only one photo though and it was far too grainy to see anyone's features."

Tim's jaw dropped and the two men chuckled at him. "I wasn't even trying to impress her; I just wanted to make her happy."

Vance clapped him on the shoulder, "Sounds like it worked." Behind Tim, Joel was shaking his head in a warning and using a 'slicing across the throat' motion, so Leon dropped the subject.

"Come on, I want to meet your team. SecNav had Alex come with us, you remember Alex Pendland?"

"The guy that took all those GQ photos of DiNozzo for the agency brochure?"

"Yep."

"Met him."

"Well now he's going to take good strong shots of you, Joel and your team."

"Yes Sir." He smiled as Vance, walking next to him, reached over and gave the back of his neck a squeeze.


	8. Chapter 8

Note: Thanks to everyone who's read, followed, reviewed, commented, PM'd me, favorited, you all are the best! Make sure you read the note at the end! Big shout out to my beta HarmonFreak1 - THANK YOU!

Note: Megan (guest), I'll say this again, you obviously don't watch the same show I do. Apparently you did not see the warning on the summary, the one that's there in plain sight. Or are you a troll? Since your last comment is the same as your first, I'm beginning to think you are.

* * *

Chapter Eight

The team was at their workstations, completing their reports for the project. Tim noticed that most of the ones who normally looked like they were wearing their pajamas to work had spruced up for the day. He was proud of their work, individually and as a team, and had been generous in his praise. He'd also been clear and honest with any of them when they'd made mistakes. One of the things he'd learned in his life as a homeless orphan, a "parent" with his two young siblings and again as a member of Gibbs' team was that the absence of respect or worse, outright disrespect could sometimes cause as much or more harm than physical, verbal or emotional abuse. He learned that showing a person respect and honesty while dealing with his or her mistakes went a long way to helping that person's self confidence and learn from the mistake. In his opinion, people disrespecting others reflected badly, showed they didn't respect themselves. He had said that once to Ducky and the man patted him on the arm as he told him he would have made a great psychologist.

He went through the room, introducing their Director, noticing how Vance repeated each person's name as he shook their hand, thanking them for their good work. When he reached James, he smiled, "You're Tim's flat mate, I've heard about some of your travels, sounds like fun!"

James' eyes widened, he'd been ready for a stiff formal authoritative figure, not this man with the warm handshake. Swallowing, he remembered all the things his parents had taught him about small talk. "We have had a lot of fun, Sir." The next man, Reg, said the rest for all of them. "Sir, Tim made sure that while we worked hard and smart, we've also worked as a team and enjoyed our work. " He paused, "And played a bit after work." Everyone chuckled at that.

Vance nodded. "You certainly do have a strong team, good development, testing and implementation skills. And it shows, ladies and gentlemen. You've just given us the best implementation of a new product this agency has ever had. Zero bug reports, congratulations! I don't know whether you're familiar with the US dollar amounts, but use of your program will save the agency more than $4 million a year. In this age of budget cuts and freezes, that's a considerable savings! Thank you again." Joel started the applause and the team took it up, applauding each other and their Project Manager, who was busy applauding them.

Vance spoke again, "I understand you're still writing up your final reports. Once those are finished, shut down for the day, we'll go have a nice lunch and then you'll have the afternoon to yourselves." Joel and Tim had kept that as a surprise, not even James knew and there were many surprised murmurs and even more grins. One of the cheekier members called out, "Hey Tim, what will you see this afternoon then? Maybe we can all go!" Tim laughed. "Don't know Henley, hadn't thought about it. I'm willing to listen to your suggestions; you know where we've been so far."

Nodding to Vance and Joel, he turned to head to his own desk to finish up. A warm hand on his shoulder stopped him, "Hang on Agent McGee, need you for a little while longer."

Tim smiled as he turned, "Sorry Sir!"

" 'S ok." The three men retreated to Joel's office and the SAIC invented an excuse to leave them alone, sensing the Director wanted some privacy with his protégé, for he saw now the personal pride the man had in Tim.

"Is something wrong, Director Vance? Kayla and Jared? Ducky?"

"No no, Tim, everyone's fine, didn't mean to worry you. I just wanted a moment alone with you; see how you're really doing."

"Oh good, glad everyone's all right." He paused. "Sir, this has been one of the best experiences of my life, I can't even begin to thank you for letting me do this."

"I didn't "let you", Tim, you were ready for it and I was ready to beg you to take it if you hadn't spoken first. And I take it the flat share has worked too?"

"It has, it's been wonderful, I felt part of the group, had an instant friend who is nearly as new to London as I am and I was at home right away. I've been warm, comfortable, happy. I'm serious when I say it's been the happiest month – or three and a half weeks - of my life."

Vance put his hand on his shoulder again, "That's good, just what I hoped for you. A chance to break away and catch your breath, do what you love to do, have a success, strengthen your confidence levels and let you move on to the next phase of your career. I'm damn proud of you, Timothy." He hesitated and Tim figured it was something to do with his former team. "It's ok Sir, whatever you need to tell me, or ask me."

"Ducky said you haven't wanted to know what was happening."

"I haven't wanted the distraction from the project, Director, no matter how much fun I've been having sightseeing or hanging out in new clubs, the project has been my first priority."

"Good man, that's just as it should be, I'm just glad that you've had time to explore. It's a great country, isn't it?"

"Yes Sir, I'll be coming back on holidays and vacations."

"Hmm, I'll want you home once in awhile Special Agent McGee."

"Not a problem Sir! So what's the news?"

"Fine, no more beating around the bush. Here, sit down." The two men sat while Vance updated Tim with the changes in DC. Tim's heart sank when he heard of Abby's termination and DiNozzo's demotion and reassignment, even though Vance assured him it was not all due to their behavior toward him. When he was told that Gibbs was on suspension while Vance pulled together a new team for him, Tim's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. He had not anticipated any of this. He'd figured his former team mates would at most get a slap on the wrist and continue on their merry way. He shook his head when Director Vance stopped speaking. "I should have just asked for a transfer, I never should have said anything. I never meant to ruin their careers while mine…it doesn't seem right Sir."

"It is right, Tim. Gibbs and DiNozzo did nothing to help you in your career, in fact DiNozzo shot you down every chance he got and Gibbs kept you benched most of the time. DiNozzo bullied and disrespected you, hell they all disrespected you, while the rest of the office looked on helplessly. Gibbs was supposed to be your leader but he not only didn't lead you, he didn't lead DiNozzo or David, not the way a real leader does. DiNozzo was his second, he also should have been leading, he was even worse, frequently abused his position and not just with you. If I had been Director after Tom Morrow, DiNozzo would have been out on his ass then, Gibbs or no Gibbs." He leaned forward, "Special Agent McGee, you are an asset to this agency. Scuito was no longer an asset and DiNozzo had just about outlived his usefulness. I'm glad Gibbs is staying and I believe with some help he will build another strong team, but this one will be a team, not a collection of bullies and their target. Gibbs has taken your words and your departure to heart; I believe in the long run that as painful as it's been for you, it will do him good. Do you know I have complaints filed by nearly every other Team Leader that's worked in DC over the past ten years, reporting inappropriate behavior, bullying, lack of leadership against both DiNozzo and Gibbs and a few against David as well. And the complaints against Ms. Scuito were overwhelming; she was already in serious trouble, Timothy, for things that had nothing to do with you. However, along with those things, the evidence I found of her mistreatment of you, her lies about you, her lies to Gibbs and Shepard and me, dating back to her stalker, the dog mauling case, Mexico…it was all more than enough to cause termination."

He added, hoping this would help assuage the young man's misplaced guilt, "Even Gibbs accepted that with no argument."

Tim's head popped up, "He let her be fired without a fight?"

"Yes. And he had no argument against DiNozzo's demotion and reassignment."

"That's not Gibbs, Sir. I thought he'd go down in flames before he'd let his two favorites be impacted."

"Here's what happened. After your announcement to him, he started thinking. He realized he didn't know much about you and I helped him with that. I had him read your personnel file, which he had not done before, and then I had him look through all the incident reports and complaints filed against DiNozzo and Scuito. Then I pulled your personal notes from case files and the memos I've had over the years and that we've found in Shepard's files, of NCIS employees – and from outside the agency – praising you. I only showed him the specific ones, but he also saw the pile of the general ones too. You've done a lot, helped a lot of people, from the homeless to the CIA, from SecNav, even a former President." He paused again. "I don't know how this is going to make you feel, but when Shepard was Director, you had an offer from the White House to join their staff. Because you were already a Federal Employee the offer had to go through channels and she found a way to kill it without ever letting you know."

Tim had gone even paler than usual. "I've always known she didn't have much use for me, but that's…so low. Did Gibbs know?"

"No, the notes I found show that she killed it without saying anything to him. Yes, it was low but the point is you were requested. By the White House."

Tim smiled, "During Shepard's time that would have been the wrong party for me, Sir."

Vance laughed. "Ah Tim, you are a good soul. I'm so relieved to find you've bounced back, actually better than I've ever seen you."

"Thank you Sir. And now I have the confidence to go learn some more in Greece and show you what I can really do."

"I already have every confidence in you Tim; it's just a matter of bumping up your experience levels and allowing you to step up."

"Thank you, Director that means the world to me."

There was a discreet knock on the door as Joel stuck his head in. "Ready to go? Your team is ready, Tim." Vance answered for them, "Yes, we're ready, let's go eat!"

Tim later remembered that the lunch went well. Everyone was relaxed and Vance was charming and funny, a side of the man he'd never seen much of at Headquarters. On the walk over, Vance had asked if Tim minded if he told the "Admiral Whitebeard" story. Tim laughed and said as long as SecNav never heard about it, he was fine. Then he realized it would have been the late Secretary of the Navy Clayton Jarvis who would have been told. Before he could open his mouth, Vance just patted him on the arm and told him not to worry. Tim remembered laughing at the story when Vance told it, it sounded a lot funnier than it had been when it happened – Abby had actually threatened him if he didn't do something.

But the whole lunch was a bit of a blur as Tim's brain kept repeating Vance's words of confidence. He really was a decent Field Agent and not just a computer geek; it hadn't been his imagination after all. His extra training with his friends had helped; at least it had been noticed. In a way he felt that the indignities, abuse and disrespect he'd suffered for all those years were being gently swept away by the success of his new life and his new adventures. He'd loved his three and a half weeks in London and he would always have an abiding fondness for these people, his first success post the MCRT, but now he was ready to move on, to Greece and his new life there.

The End

Join Tim as he moves on to his new permanent post in Greece while his former team starts getting their act together. The new story "Finding Home" will be arriving soon!


End file.
